What is the significance of the Assingham's role in the novel The Golden Bowl?

Robert Assingham is a retired British military officer, and Fanny is his wife. They take very different perspectives on social matters. Colonel Assignham is convinced of the value of keeping himself to himself. Fanny, in contrast, enjoys getting into the thick of other people’s business. Her limited self-awareness, however, keeps her from seeing the extent of her influence. It is Fanny who introduces Maggie Verver to Prince Amerigo and encourages the match. She seems to live vicariously for the romance of the young people’s courtship.
Fanny serves as a kind of surrogate mother to Maggie, whose own mother is dead. She often knows more than she initially reveals and seems to relish holding onto gossip. Fanny’s interference becomes blatant and highly consequential when she tries to convince Maggie that her husband’s affair is insignificant. Her grand gesture of smashing the bowl draws the prince’s attention, and he immediately realizes that his deception with Charlotte is public knowledge.