Cummings on COVID's return, embodying King Henry VIII, perhaps (8)
I believe the answer is:
divorcee
'henry viii perhaps' is the definition.
(Henry VIII famously divorced Catherine of Aragon)
'cummings on covid's return embodying king' is the wordplay.
'cummings' becomes 'ee' (poet EE Cummings).
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'return' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'embodying' is an insertion indicator (to embody can mean to contain or include).
'king' becomes 'r' (r is abbreviation for rex).
'covid' back-to-front is 'divoc'.
'divoc' going around 'r' is 'divorc'.
'ee' after 'divorc' is 'DIVORCEE'.
(Other definitions for divorcee that I've seen before include "Legally separated person" , "old union member" , "split personality?" , "Woman with dissolved marriage" , "List of faults" .)