Better way to hearten the princes (5)
I believe the answer is:
nicer
'better' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'way to hearten the princes' is the wordplay.
'way' becomes 'n' (Compass direction - North).
'to hearten the princes' becomes 'icer' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'n'+'icer'='NICER'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nicer that I've seen before include "More pleasant, French resort close to Montpellier" , "relatively pleasant" , "Even more 7 down!" , "More pleasant or courteous" , "improved" .)