Royal figure with bond he'd built across UK? (4,2,9)

'royal' is the definition.

'figure with bond he'd built across uk?' is the wordplay.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'built' indicates an anagram.
'across' is an insertion indicator.
'figure' put after 'bond' is 'bondfigure'.
'bondfigure'+'hed'='bondfigurehed'
'bondfigurehed' anagrammed gives 'deofedinburgh'.
'deofedinburgh' going around 'uk' is 'DUKE OF EDINBURGH'.