Perfume the French sell old queen (8)
I believe the answer is:
lavender
'perfume' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the french sell old queen' is the wordplay.
'the french' becomes 'la' ('the' in French).
'sell' becomes 'vend' (vending is a kind of selling).
'old queen' becomes 'ER' (Elizabeth Regina, ie Queen Elizabeth).
'la'+'vend'+'er'='LAVENDER'
(Other definitions for lavender that I've seen before include "bloomer" , "Fragrant purple flower used to scent linen etc" , "Light bluish-purple" , "Mauve flower, cultivated for its fragrant oil" , "Pale lilac" .)