Honour looked up at the Royal Engineer. "Sir, ultimately an affinity can be granted by the Privy Council to anypony, but there are three situations where it's commonly done." Holding up a hoof, she continued. "The first is when a member of the nobility requests it. They need to justify themselves a bit, but it's not hard, so long as they're only requesting the right to have a single retainer. For more than that, they have to demonstrate why a personal escort is necessary to ensure their dignity or safety, usually done by comparing themselves to other nobles. A baron can easily claim a single retainer on the basis that most other barons have one, and a count can just as easily claim two on the same basis, and so on."