counsel or council

Well my dictionary has:

Council: A group of people called together for discussion or consultation. An official legislative or administrative body.

and

Counsel: Deliberation or consultation. Advice, guidance. A plan or action.

I've always thought of it this way: The Council meets to offer you counsel. Then again, I'm occasionally an idoit in need of such councils and counsel, so I could be out there on this one

Counsel can also refer to a lawyer, like counselor. My Websters dictionary points out that council and counsel are related but are not interchangeable.

I've always thought of counsel as in 'School counsellor', and council as in 'Shire council' or 'County council' (local government).

So it should probably be The King's Council.

But the king would gather his nobles/ministers/magicians for their counsel.

To make it more confusing, counsels can serve on a council.

Council = group of individuals

Counsel = individual person

Here's my little trick:

A person coun-sells--sells the person on their idea.

A group is coun-cil-atory--they usually try to make everyone happy, to appease.

Collins Dictionary says one definition for counsel is "a group of barristers engaged in conducting cases in court or advising on legal matters". Since a QC (or if there is a King, a KC) is a barrister appointed Counsel to the Crown (or in Canada, an honorary title bestowed by the government on a long-serving lawyer), it is Queen's (or King's) Counsel.

I've always thought of counsel as in 'School counsellor', and council as in 'Shire council' or 'County council' (local government).

So it should probably be The King's Council.

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It's not government being referred to in this case, but the legal system.

Are they lawyers? If so, the King's Counsel. What is the context?

Council. Counsel is a verb(generally), council is a noun.

Council. Counsel is a verb(generally), council is a noun.

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Actually, counsel is a noun as often as it's a verb, just in a different sense! If they are elected officials, I would spell it council, as in councillors (or with one l, if you're American). King's Counsel, as I said, refers to barristers.