" Eunuchs and women were at times able to exert greater influence over the sultan than “ordinary” men. The eunuch Süleyman Pasha held the office of grand vizier for three full years (1541–1544). This shift did not escape the notice of foreign envoys, especially after the execution of İbrahim Pasha, when the sultan was observed to be increasingly tied to the influence of Hürrem Sultan.
In 1545, the ambassador Veltwyck wrote that the rivalry between the two competing princes—Mustafa, son of Mahidevran, and Selim, son of Hürrem—had prevented the outbreak of external wars. It is said that Hürrem, in cooperation with the agha of the Janissaries, certain viziers, and a Jewish lady, devised intrigues in Istanbul to keep Sultan Süleyman in the capital and to prevent him from leading campaigns. Rüstem Pasha related to Busbecq that the sultan was passionately eager to personally wage war against Austria, and that, had Hürrem and her daughter Mihrimah—Rüstem Pasha’s wife—not held on to his kaftan to restrain him, he would indeed have done so "
Özlem KUMRULAR : Muhteşem Süleyman