Diana Wellesley, Duchess of Wellington
Encyclopedia
Diana Wellesley, Duchess of Wellington, Baroness Douro MBE
(14 January 1922 – 1 November 2010) was the wife of Arthur Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington
, and a British intelligence officer in her own right during World War II
.
, she was the only daughter of Major-General Douglas McConnel CB
CBE
DSO
, an instructor at the Royal Military Academy, and his wife Ruth Mary (née Garnett-Botfield). Her only brother died soon after birth, and she had no other siblings.
Diana resolved not to marry a military man after living apart from her father, though she did live happily with her parents in India
for two years. She was only seventeen, not yet finished school, when the Second World War broke out. She lived in Jerusalem when her father was stationed. She worked as a secretary for the military in the King David Hotel
and served often as her father's Aide-de-camp
.
, who in 1943 became Marquess of Douro when his father Lord Gerald Wellesley
inherited the Dukedom of Wellington from his nephew
. They were married on 28 January 1944. The Marquess and Marchioness of Douro would have five children:
During the course of her regular work Diana discovered a plot by the Stern Gang
to bomb St George's Cathedral
on her wedding day. The bomb was retrieved but the couple still received a police escort, which Lord Douro believed to be the standard procedure at the wedding of a general's daughter, his bride not having revealed the plot to him at the time.
, and Lady Douro lived with him in Cyprus
in the 1950s and Madrid
from 1964 to 1967. He retired from the army in 1967 and they moved to Stratfield Saye
. In 1972 Lord Douro's father died and he and his wife became Duke and Duchess of Wellington. At home the Duchess tended personally to the gardens and was amused to be mistaken frequently for a gardener when their home was open to the public.
The Duchess died on 1 November 2010, aged 88. She lived to see the births of several of her great-grandchildren, including twins Lady Mae and Arthur, Viscount Wellesley, third in the direct line of succession to the dukedom.
, Countess of Wellesley, Viscountess Wellesley, and Baroness Douro, variously in the Peerages of the United Kingdom
and Ireland
. Because her husband's ancestor the first Duke of Wellington
was such a celebrated general rewarded by many of Europe's crowned heads, the Duchess of Wellington was also Princess of Waterloo
in the Netherlands
and Duchess of Vitória
in Portugal
. She was Duchess of Ciudad Rodrigo in Spain
from 1968 when her father-in-law ceded the title to his son (something common enough with Spanish titles, though unheard of in Britain). Her husband in turn ceded the dukedom to their son Charles Wellesley, Marquess of Douro in 2010.
In 2007 the Duchess was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire
for services to the Community of Hamptonshire.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(14 January 1922 – 1 November 2010) was the wife of Arthur Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington
Arthur Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington
Brigadier Arthur Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington, , styled Marquess Douro between 1943 and 1972, is a senior British peer and a retired Brigadier in the British Army...
, and a British intelligence officer in her own right during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Family and early life
Born Diana Ruth McConnel in WoolwichWoolwich
Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...
, she was the only daughter of Major-General Douglas McConnel CB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
, an instructor at the Royal Military Academy, and his wife Ruth Mary (née Garnett-Botfield). Her only brother died soon after birth, and she had no other siblings.
Diana resolved not to marry a military man after living apart from her father, though she did live happily with her parents in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
for two years. She was only seventeen, not yet finished school, when the Second World War broke out. She lived in Jerusalem when her father was stationed. She worked as a secretary for the military in the King David Hotel
King David Hotel
The King David Hotel is a 5-star hotel in Jerusalem, Israel. Opened in 1931, the hotel was built with locally quarried pink limestone and was founded by Ezra Mosseri, a wealthy Egyptian Jewish Banker. To this day the hotel remains one of the most prominent and prestigious hotels in Israel, and...
and served often as her father's Aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
.
Marriage and family
It was there that she met Valerian WellesleyArthur Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington
Brigadier Arthur Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington, , styled Marquess Douro between 1943 and 1972, is a senior British peer and a retired Brigadier in the British Army...
, who in 1943 became Marquess of Douro when his father Lord Gerald Wellesley
Gerald Wellesley, 7th Duke of Wellington
Gerald Wellesley, 7th Duke of Wellington, KG , styled Lord Gerald Wellesley between 1900 and 1943, was a British diplomat, soldier, and architect....
inherited the Dukedom of Wellington from his nephew
Henry Wellesley, 6th Duke of Wellington
Henry Valerian George Wellesley, 6th Duke of Wellington was the son of Arthur Charles Wellesley, 5th Duke of Wellington and the Hon. Lilian Maud Glean Coats, daughter of Lord Glentaner. He was styled the Earl of Mornington between 1912 and 1934 and Marquess of Douro between 1934 and 1941...
. They were married on 28 January 1944. The Marquess and Marchioness of Douro would have five children:
- Charles Wellesley, Marquess of Douro and 10th Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo (b. 19 August 1945), married HRH Princess Antonia of PrussiaPrincess Antonia, Marchioness of DouroPrincess Antonia of Prussia, Marchioness of Douro, Duchess of Ciudad Rodrigo, OBE , is a great-granddaughter of Wilhelm II, German Emperor.-Biography:...
, a great-granddaughter of Wilhelm II, German Emperor, with five children; - Lord Richard Wellesley, (b. 20 June 1949), married Joanna Sumner, with two daughters;
- Lady (Caroline) Jane Wellesley (b. 6 July 1951), unmarried; she was courted at one time by Charles, Prince of WalesCharles, Prince of WalesPrince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
- Lord John Wellesley (b. 20 April 1954), married Corinne Vaes, with two children;
- Lord James Wellesley (b. 16 December 1956), married Laura Wedge, with one daughter, divorced; married Emma Nethercott.
During the course of her regular work Diana discovered a plot by the Stern Gang
Lehi (group)
Lehi , commonly referred to in English as the Stern Group or Stern Gang, was a militant Zionist group founded by Avraham Stern in the British Mandate of Palestine...
to bomb St George's Cathedral
St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem
thumb|rightSt. George's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Jerusalem, established in 1899. It is the seat of the Bishop of Jerusalem of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East....
on her wedding day. The bomb was retrieved but the couple still received a police escort, which Lord Douro believed to be the standard procedure at the wedding of a general's daughter, his bride not having revealed the plot to him at the time.
After the War
Lord Douro continued his military service, attaining the rank of BrigadierBrigadier (United Kingdom)
Brigadier is a senior rank in the British Army and the Royal Marines.Brigadier is the superior rank to Colonel, but subordinate to Major-General....
, and Lady Douro lived with him in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
in the 1950s and Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
from 1964 to 1967. He retired from the army in 1967 and they moved to Stratfield Saye
Stratfield Saye
Stratfield Saye is a village and civil parish in the north-east of the English county of Hampshire.The parish includes the hamlets of West End Green, Fair Oak Green and Fair Cross.The name means 'Street-Field of the Saye family'...
. In 1972 Lord Douro's father died and he and his wife became Duke and Duchess of Wellington. At home the Duchess tended personally to the gardens and was amused to be mistaken frequently for a gardener when their home was open to the public.
The Duchess died on 1 November 2010, aged 88. She lived to see the births of several of her great-grandchildren, including twins Lady Mae and Arthur, Viscount Wellesley, third in the direct line of succession to the dukedom.
Titles and honours
Diana McConnel became Marchioness of Douro upon marriage and took the female equivalents of all her husband's inherited titles after his father's death. In Britain she was Duchess of Wellington, Marchioness of Douro, Marchioness of Wellington, Countess of MorningtonEarl of Mornington
Earl of Mornington is a title in the Peerage of Ireland, since 1863 a subsidiary title of the dukedom of Wellington. It was created in 1760 for the Anglo-Irish politician and composer Garret Wellesley, 2nd Baron Mornington. He was made Viscount Wellesley, of Dangan Castle in the County of Meath, at...
, Countess of Wellesley, Viscountess Wellesley, and Baroness Douro, variously in the Peerages of the United Kingdom
Peerage of the United Kingdom
The Peerage of the United Kingdom comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Act of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain...
and Ireland
Peerage of Ireland
The Peerage of Ireland is the term used for those titles of nobility created by the English and later British monarchs of Ireland in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland. The creation of such titles came to an end in the 19th century. The ranks of the Irish peerage are Duke, Marquess, Earl,...
. Because her husband's ancestor the first Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
was such a celebrated general rewarded by many of Europe's crowned heads, the Duchess of Wellington was also Princess of Waterloo
Prince of Waterloo
Prince of Waterloo is one of the highest-ranking Dutch titles of nobility, retained by the Duke of Wellington.The title was given by King William I of the Netherlands, of the then recently united Low Countries, to Field Marshal The 1st Duke of Wellington as a victory title in recognition of...
in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and Duchess of Vitória
Duque da Vitória
Duque da Vitória is a Portuguese title of nobility retained by the Duke of Wellington.The title was created by Prince Regent John of Portugal on 18 December 1812 to honour the British General Arthur Wellesley, who was the general commander of the armies that eventually defeated the troops of...
in Portugal
Kingdom of Portugal
The Kingdom of Portugal was Portugal's general designation under the monarchy. The kingdom was located in the west of the Iberian Peninsula, Europe and existed from 1139 to 1910...
. She was Duchess of Ciudad Rodrigo in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
from 1968 when her father-in-law ceded the title to his son (something common enough with Spanish titles, though unheard of in Britain). Her husband in turn ceded the dukedom to their son Charles Wellesley, Marquess of Douro in 2010.
In 2007 the Duchess was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
for services to the Community of Hamptonshire.