I'm looking at Game of Thrones, and I see the king sits on a council with various people he appointed. In other scenes I see peasants line up to be granted audiences with their ruler to speak on matters or ask for help. Is this really what it was like though? How does a ruler make laws and disseminate them? How does he know what's going on in his kingdom? How does he make sure the relevant people know that a declaration really is the king's authority? What kind of work is he actually doing each day?

I've seen "what is a ruler's daily-to-day life like" questions on this forum, but I couldn't find a clear answer.

To make it easier, let's also restrict the question to what it's like when the king is at home ruling, and not away on holiday, going to war, or away on a diplomatic thing.