Earn an award, given by queen in royal residence (7)
I believe the answer is:
windsor
'royal residence' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'earn an award given by queen' is the wordplay.
'earn' becomes 'win'.
'an award' becomes 'dso' (Distinguished Service Order).
'given' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'queen' becomes 'r' (r is abbreviation regina. e.g. in ER ).
'win'+'dso'+'r'='WINDSOR'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for windsor that I've seen before include "Chair < for house" , "Thames town" , "-chair; -knot; -castle" , "Home to Shakespeare's merry wives" , "former German house?" .)