Charles Cecil, Viscount Cranborne

{{Short description|English nobleman and politician}}

{{Infobox person

| pre-nominals = The Right Honourable

| post-nominals = MP

| name = Viscount Cranborne

| birth_date = 1619

| death_date = {{death year and age|1660|1619}}

| nationality = English

| occupation = Politician

| spouse = Lady Diana Maxwell

| children = James Cecil, 3rd Earl of Salisbury

| parents = William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury
Lady Catherine Howard

}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}

{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}

Charles Cecil, Viscount Cranborne MP (1619 – December 1660),{{cite book|author=James Balfour Paul|title=The Scots Peerage: Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; Containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of that Kingdom|url=https://archive.org/details/scotspeeragefou02paulgoog|year=1906|publisher=D. Douglas|page=[https://archive.org/details/scotspeeragefou02paulgoog/page/n146 130]}} was an English nobleman and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1648.

Cranborne was the eldest son of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury and his wife Lady Catherine Howard, a daughter of the 1st Earl of Suffolk and bore the courtesy title of Viscount Cranborne. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge.{{acad|id=CCL634C|name=Cecil, Charles, Viscount Cranborne}}

In April 1640, Cranborne was elected Member of Parliament for Hertford for the Short Parliament and he was re-elected in November 1640 for the Long Parliament.{{Cite Notitia Parliamentaria|converted=1|part=2|pages=229–239}} He was Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire from 1640 to 1642. Although not specifically excluded under Pride's Purge, he is not recorded as sitting subsequently.

Cranborne predeceased his father at the age of 40 without inheriting the earldom. He had married Lady Diana Maxwell, daughter of James Maxwell, 1st Earl of Dirletoun. Their son James succeeded his grandfather as Earl of Salisbury.