VIP taking old woman on river (7)
I believe the answer is:
grandee
'vip' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'old woman on river' is the wordplay.
'old woman' becomes 'gran' (I've seen this in other clues).
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'river' becomes 'dee' (River Dee).
'gran'+'dee'='GRANDEE'
'taking' is the link.
(Other definitions for grandee that I've seen before include "Eminent person" , "Spanish bigwig" , "One of high rank" , "Eminent man" , "Person of high rank" .)