Philip IV of Spain is often understood to have secluded himself in the company of a small group of ministers and courtiers to whom he delegated his favour and authority. Yet, evidence from palace records, as well as from journals, like those of don Cristóbal Crespí de Valdaura and of the marquis of Osera, indicate that this was not the case. Rather, the king was accompanied by a significantly larger entourage than is often realised, and had very clear ideas of his own about how he wanted his court to function. This article seeks to identify the people who made up the close entourage of the Spanish royal family. In doing so, it argues that the households of the Spanish king and queen during the middle decades of the seventeenth century were largely apolitical in their composition, with neither the valido nor his rivals exercising any decisive control over access to the monarch.