Senior royal staff were "gobsmacked" over the appointment of the former News Of The World (NOTW) editor Andy Coulson by David Cameron, Sky sources have said.


Royal correspondent Paul Harrison said there were "grave concerns" within the household when Mr Coulson was taken on by Mr Cameron in 2007 when he was in opposition.
Mr Coulson was then made director of communications when Mr Cameron became Prime Minister in 2010.
The journalist resigned as editor of the NOTW in 2007 after royal reporter Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed for hacking the phones of royal aides.
Mr Coulson has since been arrested and questioned by detectives on the new hacking inquiry launched earlier this year.
Harrison said it was not known if the concern went up to members of the royal family or not.
Downing Street has said the claim is a "scurrilous allegation" and "complete rubbish".

Buckingham Palace said: "On no occasion did anyone from Buckingham Palace raise concerns with Downing Street."
During a debate on the phone-hacking scandal in the Commons, the PM has admitted that "with hindsight" he would never have given a job to Mr Coulson and said he is "extremely sorry" about the furore it has caused.
On Tuesday Rupert and James Murdoch were quizzed by a committee of MPs about allegations of hacking at the NOTW.
Rupert Murdoch apologised and said it was the "most humble day" of his career.
Mr Cameron has been facing demands to apologise for appointing Mr Coulson, who resigned in January.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt told Sky News the PM had been entitled to rely on assurances given by Mr Coulson that he had no knowledge of the practice by journalists at the paper.

James and Rupert Murdoch spoke for over three hours
"What the Prime Minister didn't have was a crystal ball that enabled him to predict all the appalling wrongdoing at the News Of The World that we now know about," he said.
"He had assurances that Andy Coulson had not just made to him but to Parliament and to the police that he knew nothing about phone hacking.
"What people will judge the Prime Minister for is 'does he show the leadership to sort out this crisis?'.
"I think what we have seen in the last couple of weeks is that he is grappling with the problem previous prime ministers have ducked for very many years."