Little enough is known about don Luis de Haro (1603-1661), and still less about him during the period before he became minister-favourite of Philip IV of Spain. This essay examines the relationships that he shared as a young man with writers of Spain's golden-age, particularly José de Pellicer, Martín de Saavedra y Guzmán, Luis de Góngora and Lope de Vega. I suggest that Haro, and his family, the marquises of El Carpio, may have favoured the writers of "difficult" literature as a means of setting themselves apart from the count-duke of Olivares, and the circle of Sevillian poets associated with him.