NATIONAL TREASURE Wellington, once an isolated and lonely child, grew to be one of his country’s greatest military heroes
ALAMY X1, GETTY X2
The Sun was setting on a soggy Belgian field, littered with the bodies of the men who died that day. The Battle of Waterloo was proving to be an incredibly close call, but Napoleon was growing tired and desperate. Arthur Wesley, the Duke of Wellington, knew that the time to strike had come. In what would be his final battle, Wellington won glory for Britain and relinquished Napoleon’s tight grasp on the continent once and for all. But the story of the ‘Iron Duke’ is more than just a single battle – it is a tale of ambition, family connections and hard graft, which helped the iconic military leader rise from obscurity to worldwide renown.