Real wrongdoing by the church upset Elizabeth I? (7)
I believe the answer is:
sincere
'real' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'wrongdoing by the church upset elizabeth i?' is the wordplay.
'wrongdoing' becomes 'sin' (sin is a kind of wrongdoing).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'the church' becomes 'CE' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'upset elizabeth i?' becomes 're' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'sin'+'ce'+'re'='SINCERE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sincere that I've seen before include "Not hypocritical" , "like informal correspondents?" , "Earnest" , "Free from pretence" , "'Genuine, not deceitful (7)'" .)