Royal court

This article should be merged with  Noble court

A royal court (as a instrument of government broader than a monarchical court of justice) exemplifies and archetypifies a noble court. The court is an extension of the great individual's household, and where members of the household and bureaucrats of the administration overlap in personnel, it is sensible to speak of a "court", whether in Achaemenid Persia, Ming China, Norman Sicily, the Papacy before 1870 or the Austro-Hungarian Empire.