Hatfield House was built by Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury and Chief Minister to King James I, in 1611. This celebrated Jacobean house, which stands in its own Great Park, has been in the Cecil family ever since, and is the home of the Marques of Salisbury. In the extensive and beautiful gardens is the surviving wing of the Royal Palace of Hatfield (circa 1497). It is here that Elizabeth I spent much of her childhood. In November 1558, following the death of her sister Mary Tudor, she held her first Council of State in the great hall.