Adelaide attempted, perhaps unsuccessfully, to influence the King politically. She never spoke about politics in public; however, she was strongly Tory. It is unclear how much of William's attitudes during the passage of the Reform Act 1832 were due to her influence. The Press, the public, and courtiers assumed that she was agitating behind the scenes against reform, but she was careful to be non-committal in public. As a result of her alleged partiality, she became unpopular with reformers. False rumours circulated that she was having an affair with her Lord Chamberlain, the Tory Lord Howe, but almost everyone at court knew that Adelaide was inflexibly pious and was always faithful to her husband. The Whig Prime Minister, Lord Grey, had Lord Howe removed from Adelaide's household. Attempts to reinstate him after the Reform Bill had passed were not successful, as Lord Grey and Lord Howe could not agree as to how independent Howe could be of the government.