The shadowy image of 'men in grey suits' that run the monarchy behind closed doors has long captured the public's imagination. Princess Diana is said to have feared these "grey men" - palace courtiers and aides - and the control they had over her personal life, with her friend once saying that during the breakdown of her marriage, Diana "had a long-standing fear of losing her boys and felt the people she called 'the grey men' were trying to label her as an unsuitable mother.".
Prince Harry has also spoken publicly about his own difficulties with some of his family's courtiers, referring to three of them by unflattering nicknames in his memoir Spare and describing them as "middle-aged white men who'd managed to consolidate power through a series of bold Machiavellian manoeuvres.".
Harry also claimed that in various ways these courtiers tried to, from his perspective, come between himself and his family, in particular his beloved grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth. A royal expert has recently claimed that after examining moves made by Prince William and Princess Kate over the last year, which has seen the couple contend with some serious challenges, it is clear that the future King and Queen intend to manage their own royal positions far more directly, perhaps bypassing these "grey men" altogether.
As William and Kate have had to balance care of their young children - Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, nine, and Prince Louis, six - with their royal duties, they have made it clear that for this generation, family comes first, explained royal expert Jennie Bond - formerly the BBC's royal correspondent - for the i newspaper.
