Definition of Noble court

For alternative meanings of the word "court", see: Court (disambiguation).

A royal or noble court, as an instrument of government broader than a court of justice, comprises an extended household centered on a patron whose rule may govern law or be governed by it. A Royal Household is the highest ranking example of this. A regent or viceroy may hold court during the minority or absence of a hereditary ruler, and even an elected head of state may develop a court-like entourage of unofficial, personally-chosen advisors and "companions", a position first raised to semi-official status in the entourage of Alexander the Great, based on Persian conventions (Fox 1973).