A liberal, old and former queen and a great king (9)
I believe the answer is:
alexander
'a great king' is the definition.
(Alexander the Great)
'a liberal old and former queen' is the wordplay.
'liberal' becomes 'l' (abbreviation).
'old' becomes 'ex' (prefix meaning former or onetime).
'former queen' becomes 'ER' (Elizabeth Regina, ie Queen Elizabeth).
'a'+'l'+'ex'+'and'+'er'='ALEXANDER'
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for alexander that I've seen before include "Band leader" , "Ancient king of Macedon" , "... the Great, ancient Greek king" , "Fellow" , "A Great old Macedonian king" .)