Refusal abroad to accept a European emperor (8)

I believe the answer is:

napoleon

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'emperor' is the definition.
(Napoleon is an example)

'refusal abroad to accept a european' is the wordplay.
'refusal abroad' becomes 'non' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'to accept' is an insertion indicator.
'european' becomes 'pole' (Pole is an example).
'a'+'pole'='apole'
'non' enclosing 'apole' is 'NAPOLEON'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for napoleon that I've seen before include "French VIP" , "no longer tender" , "Extended nap" , "Leading pig in Animal Farm" , "The familiar Bonaparte" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent, The Telegraph and The Sun.

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