Upper-class grandmother describing independent people like Magyars (6)
I believe the answer is:
ugrian
'like magyars' is the definition.
(of or relating to Turanian people such as Magyars)
'upper-class grandmother describing independent' is the wordplay.
'upper-class' becomes 'u' (similar in meaning).
'grandmother' becomes 'gran' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'describing' indicates putting letters inside (describe can mean to form the outline of).
'independent' becomes 'i'.
'gran' enclosing 'i' is 'grian'.
'u'+'grian'='UGRIAN'
'people' is the link.
This may not be right. It may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for ugrian that I've seen is " Magyar".)