The cariyes with whom the sultan shared his bed became a member of the dynasty and rose in rank to attain the status of "Gözde" (the Favorite), "Ikbal" (the Fortunate) or "Kadin" (the Woman/Wife). The highest position was the Valide Sultan, the legal mother of the sultan, who herself used to be a wife or a concubine of the sultan's father and rose to the supreme rank in the harem. No court lady could leave or enter the premises of the harem without the explicit permission of the valide sultan. The power of the valide sultan over concubines even extended to questions of life and death, with eunuchs directly reporting to her.