WELLINGTON DUKE OF: (1769-1852)

WELLINGTON DUKE OF: (1769-1852) Anglo-Irish Field Marshal, the victor of Waterloo. British Prime Minister 1828-30, 1834. A fine A.L.S., Wellington, Prince de Waterloo, (twice, both in the third person and again at the conclusion), two pages, 8vo, London, 25th March 1847, to Count Schiedenfleid (?, the recipient´s name virtually illegible) in Dover Street, evidently an envoy from the King of the Netherlands. Wellington presents his compliments to his correspondent and continues to write ´with His Excellency´s permission the Duke will attend at His Excellency´s Home on tomorrow March 26th at a quarter past twelve at Noon in order to deliver into His Excellency´s hands for presentation to His Majesty the King of the Netherlands the Staff of distinction of Field Marshal of the British Army; which Her Majesty the Queen [Victoria] has commanded Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington to deliver to His Majesty´ and concludes by asking His Excellency to accept the assurance of Wellington´s profound consideration. With blank integral leaf (very slight traces of former mounting to the right edge of the verso). Autograph letters of Wellington signed with his title as Prince de Waterloo are extremely rare and highly desirable. VG King William II of the Netherlands (1792-1849) to whom the Field Marshal´s baton was to be presented, had as the young Prince of Orange served as Wellington´s aide-de-camp during the Peninsular War. Described by Wellington as ´a brave young man´, he commanded the Dutch troops at the Battle of Waterloo on 18th June 1815 where he was wounded in his left shoulder by a musket ball. The hereditary title of Prince of Waterloo had been conferred on Wellington after the battle by William II´s father, King William I. It placed Wellington, and his descendants, in the highest rank of the Dutch nobility. Although Waterloo is now in present day Belgium, in 1815 Belgium did not exist as an independent country and the battle took place in the territory of the Netherlands. For a British subject to hold the title of a foreign Prince is extraordinarily rare, the only other instance of a military officer receiving such recognition being the Duke of Marlborough, who was created a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire after Blenheim. Wellington did not use his title of Prince, and as such autograph letters featuring his signature as Prince de Waterloo are of exceptional rarity. Doubtless he employed it in the present letter as a compliment to the nation who had granted him the title. Wellington seems to have been uncertain himself about his correspondent´s name, and appears to have spelt it differently on the two occasions that it is written in the letter. Provenance: Accompanied by the original receipted invoice from Maggs Bros. Ltd. of Berkeley Square, London, dated 9th November 2011.