Palace staff worry endlessly about protecting carriage (8)
I believe the answer is:
servants
'palace staff' is the definition.
'servants' can be an answer for 'staff' (I have seen 'Domestic staff ' mean 'servants' so perhaps 'staff' could also mean 'servants'). I'm not sure about the 'palace' bit.
I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for servants that I've seen before include "They're employed in the service of government" , "those waiting" , "Flunkeys" , "Household staff" , "They look after the personal needs of others" .)