Charles Wellesley, 9th Duke of Wellington

Arthur Charles Valerian Wellesley, 9th Duke of Wellington, OBE, DL (born 19 August 1945) is a British hereditary peer and member of the House of Lords. He is the son of Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington, and his wife, Diana McConnel.

Education

Eton College

Wellington was born in 1945 at Princess Christian Nursing Home, Windsor, Berkshire as the eldest of three brothers and a sister. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford.

Politics

Wellington stood as Conservative candidate for Islington North in 1974, finishing in second place. He was a member of Basingstoke Borough Council from 1978–79. He subsequently served as Conservative MEP for Surrey from 1979–84, and as Conservative MEP Surrey West from 1984–89.

In September 2015 he was elected to a seat in the House of Lords as a Conservative in a by-election following the retirement of Lord Luke.^[1]

Charity

Wellington has worked for a number of non profit or charitable organisations. He was a patron of British Art at the Tate Gallery (1987–90), a member of the Royal College of Art between (1992–97), Chair of British-Spanish Tertulias (1993–98) and Trustee of the Phoenix Trust from 1996–2001). He received an OBE in 1999 for services to British–Spanish business relations. He was appointed a Deputy Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire in 1999. In 2003 he was given a four-year appointment as a Commissioner for English Heritage.

On 1 October 2007 he became Chairman of the Governing Council of King's College London, an institution of which his wife Princess Antonia is an alumna, and of which his ancestor Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, was instrumental in the foundation.

Business career

• Deputy Chairman of Thames Valley Broadcasting Ltd between 1975 and 1984.
• Director of Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia Ltd between 1977 and 1980.
• Councillor for Basingstoke Borough Council between 1978 and 1979.
• Director of Eucalyptus Pulp Mills Ltd between 1979 and 1988.
• Director of Transatlantic Holdings plc between 1983 and 1996.
• Director of Global Asset Management Worldwide Inc between 1984 and 1999.
• Deputy Chairman of Deltec Panamerica SA between 1985 and 1989.
• Chairman of Deltec Securities (UK) Ltd between 1986 and 1989.
• Director of Continental and Industrial Trust plc between 1987 and 1990.
• Deputy Chairman of Guinness Mahon Holdings Ltd between 1988 and 1991.
• Director of Sun Life Corp Ltd between 1988 and 1996.
• Director of Rothmans International Ltd between 1990 and 1993.
• Chairman of Dunhill Holdings Ltd between 1991 and 1993.
• Deputy Chairman of Vendôme Luxury Group plc between 1993 and 1999.
• Chairman of Framlington Group Ltd between 1994 and 1999.
• Chairman of Sun Life & Provincial Holdings plc in 1996.
• Director of Pernod Ricard S.A.

Wellington was an Independent Member of the Board of Directors of Sanofi S.A. since May 2002. He is also a Member of the Company Nominating, Governance and Strategy Committees.

Marriage

He married HRH Princess Antonia of Prussia on 3 February 1977 at St. Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, London.

They have five children:

• Arthur Gerald Wellesley, Marquess of Douro (born 31 January 1978); married (4 June 2005) to former model, now make-up artist Jemma Kidd (born 20 September 1974), fashion stylist and great-granddaughter of Lord Beaverbrook. They have twins and a younger son:
  • Lady Mae Madeleine (born 4 January 2010), twin to
  • Arthur Darcy, Earl of Mornington (born 4 January 2010).
  • Lord Alfred (born 10 December 2014).^[2]
• Lady Honor Victoria Wellesley (born 25 October 1979); married 3 July 2004 (as his second wife) the Honourable Orlando Montagu, younger son of the Earl of Sandwich, and had issue:
  • Walter Montagu (born 3 December 2005); first grandchild of the Duke and the Duchess, then the Marquess and Marchioness of Douro.
  • Nancy Jemima Montagu (born January 2007).
• Lady Mary Louise Wellesley (born 16 December 1986).^[3]
• Lady Charlotte Anne Wellesley (born 8 October 1990); who attended Oxford University reading archaeology and anthropology. Her day job is at photographer Mario Testino’s studio in London, where she is a producer. On 15 July 2015 her engagement was announced to billionaire Alejandro Santo Domingo, uncle of Tatiana Santo Domingo, wife of Andrea Casiraghi. They married in the duke's family estate Dehesa Baja in Spain, on 28 May 2016, after the ceremony in at the sixteenth-century Church of the Incarnation in Illora, near Granada.^[4][5]
• Lord Frederick Charles Wellesley (born 30 September 1992); who attended Eton College.

Titles and styles

• 19 August 1945 – 4 January 1972: Earl of Mornington
• 4 January 1972 – 31 December 2014: Marquess of Douro
• 31 December 2014 – present: His Grace The Duke of Wellington
  • 10 March 2010 – present (in Spain): The Most Excellent The Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo
  • 31 December 2014 – present (in Belgium and the Netherlands): The Prince of Waterloo

Besides being British peer, he also belongs to the Dutch, Belgian,^[6] Spanish and Portuguese nobilities.

Apart from his British titles, the Duke of Wellington also holds the hereditary titles of 9th Prince of Waterloo (Prins van Waterloo) of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Duke of the Victory (Duque da Vitória) of the Kingdom of Portugal with its subsidiary titles Marquis of Torres Vedras (Marquês de Torres Vedras) and Count of Vimeiro (Conde de Vimeiro). These were granted to the first Duke as victory titles for his distinguished services as victorious commanding general in the Peninsular War (in Spain and Portugal), and at the Battle of Waterloo (in what is now Belgium).

Wellington is also the 10th Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo (Duque de Ciudad Rodrigo) of the Kingdom of Spain, which on 10 March 2010 was ceded to him by his father. In accordance with Spanish procedure, Wellington (then styled as the Marquess of Duoro) made a formal claim to the title with the Spanish authorities.^[7] King Juan Carlos of Spain, through his Minister, granted the succession of the Dukedom of Ciudad Rodrigo to Wellington on May 2010.^[8]

Ancestry

References

External links

• The Peerage website
• Duke of Wellington's Regiment – West Riding

Dukes in the peerages of Britain and Ireland*
Royal dukes	Cornwall & Rothesay Gloucester Kent Edinburgh York Cambridge
Others	Norfolk Somerset Richmond, Lennox & Gordon Hamilton & Brandon Buccleuch & Queensberry Grafton Beaufort St Albans Bedford Devonshire Argyll Marlborough Rutland Atholl Montrose Roxburghe Manchester Northumberland Leinster Wellington Sutherland Abercorn Westminster Fife
* Current title holders, listed by date of creation, from earliest to most recent

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