Country taken in by cunning of French nobleman (8)
I believe the answer is:
archduke
'nobleman' is the definition.
(I have seen 'Top nobleman' mean 'archduke' so perhaps 'nobleman' could also mean 'archduke')
'country taken in by cunning of french' is the wordplay.
'country' becomes 'uk' (UK is an example**).
'taken in by' is an insertion indicator.
'cunning' becomes 'arch' (I've seen this before).
'of french' becomes 'de'.
'arch'+'de'='archde'
'uk' going inside 'archde' is 'ARCHDUKE'.
(Other definitions for archduke that I've seen before include "Top nobleman" , "Emperor's son" , "European noble" , "Prince of the former ruling house of Austria, Ferdinand for one" , "Austrian noble" .)