Academic not quite prepared to meet monarch (6)
I believe the answer is:
reader
'academic' is the definition.
(I know that reader is a type of docent)
'not quite prepared to meet monarch' is the wordplay.
'not quite' means to remove the last letter (most but not all of the word).
'prepared' becomes 'ready' (associated in meaning).
'to meet monarch' becomes 'er' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ready' with its final letter removed is 'read'.
'read'+'er'='READER'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for reader that I've seen before include "Peruser of texts" , "member of the university" , "Person addressed by author" , "He's immersed in a book or newspaper" , "University lecturer, the highest rank below a professor" .)