an éminence grise

(formal)

someone who has a lot of power and influence but no official position Although he never became a minister, he was the party's éminence grise for 15 years.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Arlo	-	English
Erja	ER-yah	Finnish
Anka	AHN-kah (Polish)	Polish, Bulgarian, Croatian, Serbian
Mahlah	MAH-lə (English), MAY-lə (English)	Biblical
Matilda	mə-TIL-də (English), MAH-teel-dah (Finnish)	English, Swedish, Finnish
Wendy	['wendi]