Guide was in touch with royalty (6)
I believe the answer is:
ranger
'guide' is the definition.
(I know that Ranger is a type of forestry ranger)
'in touch with royalty' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'royalty' could be 'er' (abbreviation for Elizabeth Regina) and 'er' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'rang' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'was' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ranger that I've seen before include "Rover" , "Forest or park keeper" , "Forest official" , "Forestry official" , "Park/forest keeper" .)