One-time royal attendant in the old country (6)
I believe the answer is:
yeoman
'one-time royal attendant' is the definition.
(type of historical royal servant)
'the old country' is the wordplay.
'the old' becomes 'ye' (resembles a historical spelling of 'the').
'country' becomes 'oman' (Oman is an example).
'ye'+'oman'='YEOMAN'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for yeoman that I've seen before include "Historical freeholder" , "Old English soldier or small farmer" , "farmer with his own land" , "Royal guard" , "Beefeater was this Tower warden's nickname" .)