section_path: Informal use/Influential outsiders
section_name: Influential outsiders
paragraph_text: Influential outsiders
  
  The status of monarchs is sometimes impugned by accusations of corule when an advisor, family member, lover, or friend appears to have taken too great a hand in government. Lü Buwei in Chinese history and François Leclerc du Tremblay in France are famous examples of " éminences grises " who controlled much of their countries' policies. In British history, George VI 's reign was mocked as a "split-level matriarchy in pants" owing to the supposed influence of his mother, Queen Mary and his wife Queen Elizabeth.