Doubly leaders of the world in times past (7)

I believe the answer is:

twofold

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'doubly' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'leaders of the world in times past' is the wordplay.
'leaders of' says to take the initial letters.
'in times past' becomes 'ofold' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
The initial letters of 'the world' is 'tw'.
'tw'+'ofold'='TWOFOLD'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for twofold that I've seen before include "Having dual elements" , "doubled in size" , "Twice as much" , "Double" , "Twice as numerous" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Independent.

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