It's for a fantasy story, and my characters do tend to wind up in the occasional palace, natch. While I can technically invent any sort of protocol I like, I'm going for a semi-realistic tone, so I'd like some sort of template to work off. My Google-fu is turning up mostly modern Buckingham Palace protocol. The rest is not what I'm looking for. So, any worldbuilding guides for fantasy writers in this vein? If my hero what smells of goats goes to see a monarch, what happens?
They might get trapped in the cycle of bureaucracy, endless cycles of offices and waiting periods just to be able to see the monarch... Then you find out you'll only be seeing a palace official instead, who gives you a short amount of time before he gets bored and thanks you very politely for raising the issue and saying he will take it up with the monarch in question.
