Crossword Genius

Royal role for a motherless man, we find (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

learn

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'find' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'royal role for a motherless man we' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'royal' could be 'r' (common abbreviation e.g. RM - Royal Marine) and 'r' is found in the answer.
'a' could be 'an' and 'an' is located in the remaining letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for learn that I've seen before include "Acquire information" , "Gain knowledge or skill" , "Study or digest" , "Pick up" , "Get to know" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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