Ladies’ man

WHEN he was still plain Arthur Wesley, the Duke of Wellington proposed to Catherine Pakenham, only to be rejected by her father, Edward, 2nd Baron Longford. He managed to woo both father and daughter, but Lord Longford’s qualms about the match were right—the couple grew apart, particularly after his victory at Waterloo, because she detested being a public figure.

A new exhibition at Apsley House, London W1, shows how Wellington made up for his disastrous marriage with a wide circle of female friends, with whom he corresponded assiduously and whose portraits he hung in his home. These relationships are revealed through an array of paintings, miniatures, drawings, letters and cartoons.

The gossip mill went into overdrive about the Duke’s lady friends, naming several, such as Charlotte Greville, Frances Wedderburn-webster and opera singer Giuseppina Grassini, as his mistresses. But, although the Duke may have been enamoured of Marianne Patterson, whose portrait (below) he commissioned from Sir Thomas Lawrence with his own, his relationship with women is much more nuanced than is traditionally believed, says the exhibition’s curator, Josephine Oxley. ‘His reputation as a “ladies’ man” is only partly deserved because, as I show in this exhibition, he really enjoyed deep and lasting friendships with women.’

‘Wellington, Women and Friendship’ runs from April 21–October 30 (www.wellingtoncollection.co.uk).