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Glite Dictionary
royal court

royal court

5 4.1
A group of people who serve and advise a king or queen, like family and nobles
  • noun
  • /ˈrɔɪəl kɔrt/
translation icon : corte real
  • Brazil was colonized in 1808 by the royal court of Portugal, which was fleeing Napoleon's troops.
  • member of the royal court

You love reading things that take place in fairy realms, Royal Courts, all that stuff.

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Examples

  • The scene shows members of the royal court standing in a circle performing a ceremony.

    Academic text (2010)

  • How large a guard shall I prepare for your visit to the royal court?

    Kismet (1944)

  • A message from the royal court of France.

    The Inventor (2023)

  • You needed a title to gain access to the royal court.

    The Affair of the Necklace (2001)

  • Only members of the royal court are permitted to leave the city.

    The Physician (2013)

  • The King sneaked into the royal court.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • She's being honored at the royal court in memory of her beloved father.

    The Ice Pirates (1984)

  • In the royal court and the palaces of the nobility, French was spoken.

    Blog text (4)

  • The Nongoma region is associated with the Zulu royal court and the attendant ancestral Zulu clans.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Only members of the royal court are permitted to leave the city.

Synonyms

court
vsroyal court
152 5.8

People who live and work for a king or queen, advising and serving them

focuses more on the group who surround and serve the monarch
palace
vsroyal court
  • Literature
73 4.6

The king's or queen's official group that speaks for them

emphasizes the people who surround and serve the monarch rather than political power

How Powerful

royal court
5 4.1
court
152 5.8
retinue
  • Formal
3 8.6
household
501 1.0

Surface Forms

royal court singular
royal courts plural

Morphology

royal + court

The meaning 'the group who surround and serve a monarch' is directly derivable from combining 'royal' (relating to a king or queen) with 'court' (a monarch's household or retinue). This is a straightforward compositional noun phrase common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand the MWE.

Etymology

The noun royal court comes from a simple old idea: royal means the king or queen, and court was the place or yard where people stood around the ruler. Because these people lived and worked there, royal court came to mean the 'group of people' who surround and serve a king or queen.