Evil Chancellor/Analysis

Historically, this has often been an Invoked Trope, letting rulers shift the responsibility for screwing up. The common people are more likely to blame advisors than rulers for bad decisions, confident in their belief that it must be the evil advisors and ministers who hide the truth from the benevolent ruler.

This was especially common in monarchies, where the hereditary rule was seen as an expression of divine will. For instance, in 19th century Russia, the peasants commonly thought the Tsar was on their side, passing the blame for bad laws on their favorites such as Arakcheyev, Shuvalov, Pobedonostsev or Rasputin; the Romanov dynasty ended in blood when it exhausted this credit of confidence and the people came to blame the Tsar himself for two lost wars, suppressing peaceful demonstrations, and generally not caring about ruling the country.