Prince of Waterloo
Prince of Waterloo is a Dutch rank of nobility, held by the Duke of Wellington.
Nobility
The title Prince of Waterloo was created by King William I of the Netherlands for 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.
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). The rest of the family retain the Dutch honorific Jonkheer or Jonkvrouw.
Estate of the Prince
In addition to this title, the Dutch king also granted Wellington 2,600 acres (10.5 km²) of land and a yearly donation of 20,000 guilders. 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. After the Belgian independence the dotation was by the Treaty of London included in the public debt to be assumed by the new Kingdom of Belgium.
The land held by the Prince of Waterloo has recently (2001) come under pressure from retired Belgian senator Jean-Emile Humblet.[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, Valerian 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, lead by Humblet, say the deal does not reflect the value of the land - which they say is part of Belgium's national territory - 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.[3] [4]
Also, in 2009 a Member of Parliament from Vlaams Belang questioned the Minister of Finance, Didier Reynders about the grant. Reynders replied that this grant is part of the international obligations of Belgium under the Treaty of London and that he had no intention of reneging on the obligation, as all the Dukes have faithfully fulfilled their obligations.[5]
List of Princes of Waterloo (1815–present)
- Arthur Wellesley, 1st Prince of Waterloo (1769–1852) since 1815
- Arthur Wellesley, 2nd Prince of Waterloo (1807–1884) since 1852
- Henry Wellesley, 3rd Prince of Waterloo (1846–1900) since 1884
- Arthur Wellesley, 4th Prince of Waterloo (1849–1934) since 1900
- Arthur (Charlie) Wellesley, 5th Prince of Waterloo (1876–1941) since 1934
- Henry (Morney) Wellesley, 6th Prince of Waterloo (1912–1943) since 1941
- Gerald (Gerry) Wellesley, 7th Prince of Waterloo (1885–1972) since 1943
- Valerian Wellesley, 8th Prince of Waterloo (b. 1915) since 1972
The heir apparent is the present holder's son Jonkheer Charles Wellesley (b. 1945).
Notes
See also
- Duque de Ciudad Rodrigo
- Duque da Vitória