Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Salisbury, Robert Cecil, Marquess of (1830-1903). British statesman; prime minister (1886-92; 1895-1900; 1900-02). A Conservative, he became Disraeli’s leading adviser and succeeded him as leader of the opposition (1881). As prime minister he acted as his own foreign secretary, following a policy of ‘splendid isolation’, as it was later known, in European affairs.