2 removing me and then them, for you once (4)

I believe the answer is:

thee

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'you once' is the definition.
(historical second person pronoun)

I don't understand how the rest of the clue works.

(Other definitions for thee that I've seen before include "Archaic form of 'you'" , "you many years ago" , "Poetically you" , "Old objective second person singular" , "Quaker 'you'" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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