Duke who’s the driving force behind rebellion
HIS pro-European sabre rattling would come as a surprise to his most famous forebear.
The current Duke of Wellington is a direct descendent of the Iron Duke who destroyed Napoleon’s dreams of a French-led European empire at the Battle of Waterloo over 200 years ago.
Yet the holder of the title – full name Arthur Charles Valerian Wellesley – is now the driving force behind the mounting Lords rebellion against Brexit despite the referendum vote in 2016.
It would appear that the 72-yearold Duke, educated at Eton and Oxford, does not share his forefather’s commitment to British independence.
The modern Duke’s stance is unlikely to amaze those who know him well. Besides his English stately home, he owns grand estates near the scenes of the Iron Duke’s greatest triumphs, in Wallonia in Belgium and Grenada in Spain.
He served as Conservative MEP for Surrey from 1979 to 1984, then as Conservative MEP for Surrey West from 1984–1989. Until acceding to the dukedom in 2014 he had the courtesy title Marquess of Douro.
He was elected to a voting seat in the House of Lords as a Conservative in a by-election following the retirement of Lord Luke in 2015.
But last night his stance drew a stinging rebuke from former Tory Cabinet minister Lord Tebbit who said: “I don’t know what the Duke of Wellington’s motivation is – I just know he is wrong.”