The Amarr Emperor is the head of state and appoints the head of government, the Chancellor; he/she also appoints the Court Chamberlain and Ammatar Governor. The office of Emperor has experienced many transformations in its history. It began as a principate and transformed later to Caesaropapism. The time of the Principate was from AD 16470 to 21460, at this time the Amarr Emperor was the leader of the Apostles, the first among equals, and his authority was channeled through the Council of Apostles.
After the Moral Reforms the Emperors became more powerful as secular leaders and also as supreme heads of the church; it was the beginning of the modern emperors. The Emperor's authority is unquestioned and absolute, but the archaic and bureaucratic system of government – including a series of checks-and-balances encountered both in the entrenched Empire institutions and in the rule of various local barons within the empire – makes it difficult for him to exert his rule unless directly in person. Otherwise, the Heirs rule in his name, dividing the huge empire between them.
The closest that can be defined as his personal administrative body is the Emperor Family. Realistically, the main support of an Emperor's power and authority is the military. Being paid by the imperial treasury, the soldiers (Paladins) also swore an annual military oath of loyalty towards him.
On an imperial level, on the imperial court, the most powerful individuals are the Chancellor, the Chamberlain, the Emperor Family, and arguably the Ammatar Governor. In addition to the imperial offices, the Privy Council exists as a major imperial decision-making body. In order to maintain the administration's cohesion as a central body with the provinces of the empire, the emperor relies on the Privy Council, which functions, among other things, as a place where the royal families meet the Emperor. The Privy Council itself is the highest administrative body in the Amarr Empire's civil hierarchy, forming the emperor's personal advisory council. In theory it is a gathering of the reigning emperor's most trusted advisors from various branches of government, assembling to offer advice and suggestions for the emperor's consideration.