Mock English royal starting to study all the letters over time (6)

I believe the answer is:

ersatz

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'mock' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'english royal starting to study all the letters over time' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'royal' becomes 'r' (abbreviation).
'starting' suggests taking the first letters.
'the letters' indicates an anagram.
'over time' becomes 'z' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
The initial letters of 'to study all' is 'tsa'.
'tsa' anagrammed gives 'sat'.
'e'+'r'+'sat'+'z'='ERSATZ'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ersatz that I've seen before include "Imitation (from Ger.)" , "Inferior substitute" , "Phoney as in Germany" , "Artificial or synthetic, from German" , "Substitute - fake" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times.

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