Why rule from the foreground as ruler when you can rule from the background as a lower non-council position anyway? The Ruler's buttons don't even mean much anyway. Much better to just have the ruler be a puppet of yours and control the entire council by putting friends in office in return for favors (or just for power itself). hehe...
Because sometimes, the fame is what you are after. And others, no puppet can fulfill your wishes as well as you could.
If you aim power in a mediocre kingdom, then sure, staying behind the scenes works fine. If you want your realm to totally kick the ass of all the other realms, that's usually not enough.
