What a delight to be a
guest blogger at Number One London, one of my favorite blogs.
This piece was first
written for Risky
Regencies on June 28, 2009, but I could have written it
after Kristine and Vicky’s Duke of Wellington Tour. It’s worth a revisit,
though, (slightly edited) because, well, it’s about the Duke of Wellington!
As a certified Wellington
Groupie (Kristine Hughes is the founding
member) and in continuing honor of the Waterloo Anniversary, I thought I would
simply share some of my Wellington-related photos and thoughts. Kristine is the
real expert and I didn’t check any facts, so I might not be 100% accurate in
all I say.
When I first fell in
raptures about Wellington (or dear Artie, as Kristine and I call him), it was
at Stratfield Saye, Wellington’s country house. Of all the houses we saw on
that 2003 trip to England, Stratfield Saye seemed the most like it was a home.
It was a home. The present duke’s son and his family live there, but you could
feel the first Duke there in every room. In an outer building there house was
the funeral carriage that carried the Duke’s body through London. A recording
played of all his honors, as had been read out during his funeral. I realized
that this had been a truly great man.
On that trip we also got
to go up to the top of the Wellington Arch in London, and of course we toured
Apsley House, also known as Number One London. Apsley House felt more like a
museum than a house and well it should. It was filled with wonderful art and
artifacts.
Also in London we visited
Lock and Co, a Hatters shop that has been in Mayfair since 1676. On display
there are Wellington’s and Nelson’s hats, instantly recognizable.
I don’t claim to be an
expert on Wellington. I’ve just read one biography (and can’t remember which
one it was), but I think of him as a man with great integrity, courage and
honor. As a boy he didn’t show much promise, but his mother sent him to a
military academy in Europe (near Waterloo, I think) and he found his strength.
As a military man he understood how to use his resources, he was clever, and he
was brave. He rode the battlefield during Waterloo, was everywhere he could be
and ignored the danger to himself. He cared about his men. One of my favorite
Wellington quotes is: “Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy
as a battle won.”
He was not a good
husband, although he felt honor-bound to marry his wife, because she thought
they were betrothed and had waited for him while he served in India. He had
many dalliances throughout their marriage and one has to wonder how his wife
felt as this man grew in greatness and increasingly left her behind. His sons
could not match his success. Who could? I like this quote from his son after
the Duke’s death, “Imagine what it will be when the Duke of Wellington is
announced, and only I walk in the room.”
The Duke was a man who
was very sure of himself and his opinions. I suspect he had a big ego, but he
also had a sense of humor. In the display at Lock and Co. was a little
caricature of Wellington, making fun of the term Wellington boot for the style
of boot he favored. At Stratfield Saye there was a room papered with hundreds
of caricatures of the Duke, which I thought was akin to a writer papering a
bathroom with rejection letters. The boot one was was there, too.
What is your opinion of
the Duke of Wellington? Pro and Con. Any favorite quotes or vignettes of his
life?
Diane Gaston is the award-winning author of
Regency-set historical romances. Her next book, Bound By
One Scandalous Night, Book 2 in the
Scandalous Summerfields series, will be released March 22, 2016, from Harlequin
Historical.
