Dignitary dressing to meet royals at first (5)
I believe the answer is:
mayor
'dignitary' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'dressing to meet royals at first' is the wordplay.
'dressing' becomes 'mayo' (mayo is a condiment or dressing).
'to meet' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'at first' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'royals' is 'r'.
'mayo'+'r'='MAYOR'
(Other definitions for mayor that I've seen before include "Civic head of town or borough" , "City government head" , "Elected town/city head" , "Municipal head" , "Municipal official" .)