You will be a young prince that is not only in the middle of a crisis, but whose road to the throne is less than certain. The kingdom is ravaged by war, schemes, debt, and death among other things.
You will play the first day of each week, which is meant to set the example of what your character does the rest of that week. I found this made more sense than a day to day game for the logic of how fast skills increase, how quickly relationships develop, and the time between game events, etc.
That first day will then be divided in four stages. Morning, Noon, Evening and Night.
During the morning you will hold court. That is the time when subjects of the kingdom will bring you petitions for you to give your judgement.
Your choices will affect how the kingdom sees you as a ruler. With this in mind it will be near impossible to please all the factions, and they might rebel or scheme if their support reaches zero. Having a good relationship with them on the other hand might unlock different things that are more pleasant.
Your skill level might also unlock different solutions for the problems brought to the court. These options are usually better.
After holding court, the noon and evening times you will spend them in the map menu. There you can decide which skills you will develop during the week.