Camarilla (pronounced kam-uh-ril-uh or kah-mah-ree-lyah (Spanish))
(1) A group of unofficial or private advisers to
a person of authority, especially a group much given to intrigues and secret
plots; cabal; a clique.
(2) The confidential advisers to the Spanish
kings.
(3) By extension, an unelected individual in a
position of influence in government.
1830-1840: From the Spanish camarilla, the construct being cámara (chamber; room) + -illa, the diminutive Latin suffix. The Spanish cámara was from the Old Spanish camara, from the Vulgar Latin camara, from the Classical Latin camera (a vaulted building; arched roof or ceiling), from the Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára) (something with an arched cover, a vaulted chamber). A doublet of cambra, the Latin was the source also of the Italian camera, the French chamber, the Old Church Slavonic komora, the Lithuanian kamara and the Old Irish camra. The suffix -illa was an inflection of -illus (nominative/vocative feminine singular & nomminative/accusative/vocative neuter plural). The suffix -illā was the ablative feminine singular of -illus, itself a misinterpretation of the diminutive suffix -lus on such nouns as sigillum (signum + -lus) and used freely. It was used to form adjectives from nouns. Literally translated from Spanish it means “little room” and, in English, the origins of the cabinet, the “kitchen cabinet” and Privy Council are not dissimilar. Outside of the formal workings of the Spanish court, word tends to be used with suggestions of something secret, sinister and conspiratorial and from this Modern English picked up cabal. In Italian, camarille is the plural of Camarilla, a feminine proper name, from the Latin, feminine of Camillus, cognomen of several members of the gens Furia, from camillus (noble youth attending at sacrifices), possibly from Etruscan.
Camarilla of renown
Bormann attached himself to the Nazi Party in the 1920s and proved diligent
and industrious, rewarded in 1933 by being appointed chief of staff in the
office of Rudolf Hess (1894–1987; Nazi Deputy Führer 1933-1941) where he first built
his power base. After Hess made his
bizarre flight in 1941, Hitler abolished the post of Deputy Führer, assigning
his offices to Bormann and styling him Head of the Parteikanzlei (Party Chancellery), a position of extraordinary
influence, strengthened further when in 1943 he was appointed Personal
Secretary to the Führer, a title he exploited to allow him to act as a kind of
viceroy, exercising power in Hitler’s name.
Known within the party as the “Brown Eminence” (an allusion to an éminence grise (literally “grey
eminence”) one who exercises power “behind the scenes” and the brown Nazi Party
uniform), he maintained his authority by controlling access to Hitler to whom
his efficiency and dutifulness proved invaluable. He committed suicide while trying to make his
escape from Berlin in 1945.
Aged 21, the picturesque Ainsley
Gotto was appointed personal private secretary to the prime-minister, something
which raised eyebrows at the time though had it been reported (the press then
more restrained in their intrusions into people’s private lives), that she was at the time having an affair with the leader of the opposition’s chief of
staff, that would have been a sensation.
Gorton was less conventional than his predecessors and made no secret of
his fondness of sometimes having a drink with younger women so unsubstantiated
rumors of course followed. Also alleged was
that she exercised undue influence, one sacked minister blaming his demise on: “It
wiggles, it's shapely and its name is Ainsley Gotto.”
Harry Hopkins held a number of appointments in the Roosevelt administration (including at cabinet level) between 1933-1940 before being attached to the White House staff as the president’s personal advisor, especially in the key aspect of managing the US contribution to the British war effort at a time when the country was a non-belligerent and a substantial part of public and political opinion favoured maintaining neutrality. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, his role in foreign affairs became more overt and he functioned essentially as Roosevelt’s personal emissary to both London and Moscow. His influence waned in the later days of the war as US preponderance in military matters in the Pacific & Atlantic theatres and the supply of materiel to the Soviet Union meant political negotiations moved to the background. Additionally, his health was failing and he died within a year of the end of the war. In the post-war years he was criticized for being at least naïve in his estimation of Stalin's intentions and the very nature of the Soviet state but that was something which could be said of many at the time, including Roosevelt.
Although he had for years been circulating in
populist right-wing politics, Dominic Cummings really came to nation attention for
his role in supporting a yes vote in the Brexit referendum (2016) which led to
the UK leaving the European Union (EU). One
reward for this success was being appointed chief adviser to Prime Minister
Boris Johnson upon his assumption of the premiership. Johnson would have had his reasons but it’s
suspected Cummins rather though the prime-minister might prove “the empty vase
into which I poured water” as Spike Milligan (1918-2002) once said of Peter
Sellers (1925-1980). Things didn’t quite
work out like that although sections of the press were never subtle in
ascribing a to disproportionate influence which some hinted verged on the
improper. In the end it was not constitutional
impropriety but denials and cover-ups over COVID-19 related lockdown transgression
which saw his role in government sundered.
He wasn’t the first camarilla to have squandered the extraordinary possibilities
offered by occupying a position of power without responsibility.
Coming out of the roughhouse of Texas
politics, Karl Rove was described usually as a political strategist but his
range was extraordinary, encompassing everything from data miner & analyst to campaign
manager and media handler. He
masterminded a slew of Republican victories in Texas and beyond but is most
associated with George W Bush’s gubernatorial and presidential successes. Bush was generous in naming Rove the “architect” of
these victories but in private also bestowed the most illustrious of all Texan
terms of endearment: "Turd Blossom".
Although serving as White House Deputy Chief of Staff (2005-2007), the
essence of his role was as Senior Advisor to the President and during these
years he came to be described as “W’s brain”.
Historians mostly haven’t yet gone that far but do acknowledge his
success in mobilizing the reticent Republicans and evangelicals and others to
emerge from their basements and vote in 2004, narrowly gaining Bush his second
term.
Peta Credlin drew interest when employed as Chief of Staff to Tony Abbott as leader of the opposition but was a lightning rod when she fulfilled the role when he was prime-minister. Anyone who doubts misogyny exists in politics can’t have been paying attention to the treatment Ms Credlin endured, the rumors of affair between her and Abbott utterly unsupported by even a scintilla of evidence. It was wasted effort really because her reactionary politics of hatred, division and dog-whistling surely offered sufficient scope for critics of her brand of shark-feeding populism. The office however probably constrained her a bit because in her new role as a commentator on the Murdoch-run Sky News, there’s much more latitude, the business model to say something outrageous or in some way actionable, enjoy the reaction and then issue an apology, if need be accompanied by an out-of-court settlement. Still, she did come up with one really good line: Her labelling of Malcolm Turnbull (b 1954; Australian prime-minister 2015-2018) as “Mr harborside mansion” was better than anything a man could think of so there’s that.
Colonel (a non-military, honorary title) House was President Wilson’s closest advisor between 1914-1948 and despite lacking a background in European affairs, was the senior US diplomat at the Paris Peace Conference (1919). Disappointed and feeling deceived by some of the decisions taken at Paris and agreed to in his absence by House, Wilson broke with him; after returning to the US, they would never meet again. To his dying day House believed his estrangement from the president was engineered at least in part by the second Mrs Wilson.
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