Henry VIII possibly backing punishment to cut off head! (5)
I believe the answer is:
tudor
'henry viii' is the definition.
(Henry VIII was a Tudor king)
'backing punishment to cut off head' is the wordplay.
'backing' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'punishment' becomes 'rod' (I've seen this before).
'to cut off head' becomes 'ut' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'rod'+'ut'='rodut'
'rodut' back-to-front is 'TUDOR'.
'possibly' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tudor that I've seen before include "Name of the English royal family of Elizabeth 1st" , "Name of English royal family during 16th century" , "Former English royal house" , "Name of a royal house" , "Rose" .)