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 (by the Vienna Congress) united Low Countries, to Field Marshal The 1st Duke of Wellington as a victory title in recognition of defeating Emperor Napoléon I of the French at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
Contents |
[edit] Nobility
The 1st Duke of Wellington and all his descendants belong to the Dutch nobility, in which all the descendant dukes have the title of Prince of Waterloo (Prins van Waterloo) and the rest of their family the Dutch honorific Jonkheer or Jonkvrouw.
In addition to this title, the Dutch king also granted Wellington 2,600 acres (10.5 km²) of land. To this day the Dukes of Wellington retain the title Prince of Waterloo,[1] and enjoy an annual income of around £100,000 from the longstanding tenants occupying the land.
Owing to the establishment of the separate Kingdom of Belgium in 1831, the title (being Dutch) and the land (located in Belgium) became separated.
[edit] Estate of the Prince
The land held by the Prince of Waterloo has recently (2001) come under pressure from a retired Belgian senator.[2] In 1817, the government in what is now Belgium struck a deal to pay the duke £1,600 a year in return for the proceeds of sales of timber which the duke wanted to clear from the forested land. Until 1988, successive dukes enjoyed this annual payment, but the present Prince of Waterloo, Arthur Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington, agreed to forgo the payment in exchange for outright ownership of 60 acres (240,000 m²) of the 2,600 acres (10.5 km²) to which he has rights. But some Belgian taxpayers[who?], who say the deal does not reflect the value of the land - which they say is part of Belgium's national territory[citation needed] - use the debate to draw attention to the wider issues of the original agreement, contending that Belgium was effectively coerced into accepting the terms of the original agreement because it could not afford to offend Britain.
[edit] List of Princes of Waterloo (1815- )
- Arthur Wellesley, 1st Prince of Waterloo (1769–1852) since 1815
- Arthur Richard Wellesley, 2nd Prince of Waterloo (1807–1884) since 1852
- Henry Wellesley, 3rd Prince of Waterloo (1846–1900) since 1884
- Arthur Charles Wellesley, 4th Prince of Waterloo (1849–1934) since 1900
- Arthur Charles Wellesley, 5th Prince of Waterloo (1876–1941) since 1934
- Henry Valerian George Wellesley, 6th Prince of Waterloo (1912–1943) since 1941
- Gerald Wellesley, 7th Prince of Waterloo (1885–1972) since 1943
- Arthur Valerian Wellesley, 8th Prince of Waterloo (b. 1915) since 1972
The heir apparent is the present holder's son Jonkheer Charles Wellesley (b. 1945).
