The smart set’s talking about... the Duke of Wellington’s racy niece

ONcE upon a time, the daughters of our aristocracy would ‘come out’ by being presented to the monarch in their best ball gowns at Buckingham Palace.

Today’s ‘ debs’ mark the start of the social season by posting racy photographs on social media.

Take Eleanor Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington’s 22-year-old niece. She’s become the talk of London’s

beau monde with her bikini selfies on Instagram and larks with blueblooded pals. Eleanor — whose father is the Duke’s brother, Lord christopher Wellesley — is due to graduate from Exeter University this summer with a history of art degree.

When she moved into the house she shares with four girlfriends in Devon, Eleanor posted a snap of them and teased: ‘100 likes for the naked version.’ a keen polo player, she is also a dog-lover but, sadly, had to say goodbye to her faithful friend Lola in 2016.

But she is not short of shoulders to cry on. having previously courted fellow student Ed Taylor, she is now being squired by a stylish Oxford graduate, heritage de Valencay, 23.

Last week, Eleanor, whose cousin Sofia is married to crooner James Blunt, wrote an online diary about her trip to the american music festival coachella, where she rubbed shoulders with Leonardo Dicaprio and models du jour Gigi and Bella hadid. She recounts: ‘after a wild weekend we went straight to the Beverly hills hotel for four days of poolside relaxation.’

It has not always been an easy life, though. When Eleanor was nine her father divorced her mother, Laura, and married his French mistress, Emma Nethercott, who was then 28.