Prince’s friend helping briefly with house (7)
I believe the answer is:
horatio
'prince's friend' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'helping briefly with house' is the wordplay.
'helping' becomes 'ration' (a ration is a serving or helping).
'briefly' means to remove the last letter.
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'house' becomes 'ho' (abbreviation for house).
'ration' with its last letter removed is 'ratio'.
'ratio' put after 'ho' is 'HORATIO'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for horatio that I've seen before include "Hamlet's friend: Hornblower's first name" , "Nelson's given name" , "- Nelson, British admiral" , "Nelson's first name" , "Hamlet''s friend - Nelson" .)