==Cliché in history== 
 I feel most unhappy to have the work of an afternoon practically reverted, although it was excellently sourced. As it stands, this article has a fundamental problem with obsolete cliché as regards the government of Elizabeth I. It is true that William Cecil was a sort of chief minister, but not in the sense that the situation with her "court favourites" was a "different matter". If that ever was historical thinking than it is hopelessly out of date. Even the concept of "faction" at the Elizabethan court before the 1590's, which was very popular with Conyers Read and J.N. Neale in the earlier 20th century, has been shown to be practically rubbish. Cecil and Leicester worked most successfully together, as a kind of tandem (Christopher Hatton, another favourite, also was a most important privy councillor). These men do dont deserve only to be mentioned in a curious list, while Cecil (who was certainly not the typical favourite) is the main focus in the text proper.  

 There is a lot of newer scholarship on these things. May I quote from Simon Adams (my italics): But Cecil is not the only key figure:...The traditional picture of Leicester as a courtier-adventurer who rose to great heights through the Queen's misguided affection is based on a fundamental misconception. From the earliest years of the reign he was the inheritor of his father's following, and it was this that gave significance to his position as intimate and potential consort. Throughout the first three decades of the reign (until Leicester's death in 1588) the relationship between Cecil, Leicester and the Queen remained more or less unchanged. In the mid 1570s Sir Francis Walsingham and Sir christopher Hatton...became part of this inner ring, although Cecil and Leicester remained the most important councillors (Adams pp. 17–20) 

 The most famous scholarship on these topics is: 
 *Guy, John: The Tudor Monarchy Hodder Education 1997 ISBN 0340652187 
 *Adams, Simon: Leicester and the Court: Essays in Elizabethan Politics Manchester UP 2002 ISBN 0719053250  
 *Hammer, P.E.J.: The Polarisation of Elizabethan Politics: The Political Career of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, 1585–1597 Cambridge UP 1999 ISBN 0521019419