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I remembered reading about the first Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley) and his wife (Catherine "Kitty" Pakenham) and it reminded me strongly of Persuasion (except more tragic in ending).
I re-read the Wikipedia page about her again and it is SO SIMILAR! They fell in love and got engaged at a younger age but her family was unhappy. Their disapproval led her to break off the engagement and Wellesley grew serious about his military career and made a glorious career out of it. She got engaged again but broke it off. She was described as being young, vivacious and pretty before, but age and poor health made her weak, frail and poor-looking when Wellesley returned a decade later and expressed interest in marrying her again. He literally said to his brother: "She has grown ugly, by Jove!".
Where the plot differs in Persuasion is what came after. Kitty and Arthur went ahead with the wedding anyway (they married in 1806, Persuasion came in 1817) but they were not a happy couple. Kitty preferred staying at home and was quiet by nature while Wellesley was charismatic, charming, handsome and sociable. He found her to be a dull and poor conversationalist and sought adventure. He took many lovers and they were hardly in each other's presence although they did have two kids.
The following is an excerpt from Wikipedia about their final moments:
She became seriously ill in 1831, which brought Wellington to her bedside. She ran a finger up his sleeve to find if he was still wearing an armlet she had once given him, "She found it, as she would have at any time these past twenty years, had she cared to look for it" remarked Wellington. "How strange it was", he went on to say, "that people could live together for half a lifetime and only understand each other at the end". She died on 24 April.
I am glad Anne and Captain Wentworth went through struggles to reaffirm their love and commitment to each other before marriage. I am sure theirs was a very happy one❤
Oh, I never knew about the Duke and Duchess of Wellington's marriage but their story sounds so much like Persuasion! I think it's horrible that they weren't able to live peacefully and happily and only bonded when she passed away, her life must have been so lonely as he was never short of admirers and people to surround himself with.
Anne and Wentworth are a beautiful couple though!
Yes, I agree! By all accounts he was a charming, handsome and heroic man who everyone doted on and he was never short of company and women who were ready to be his mistresses. He never took another wife after Kitty's death, though he survived her by 21 years.
Trigger warning
I read a little about her and she disturbingly reminded me of a friend who had severe clinical depression (not diagnosing at all). And looks like her symptoms started setting in before marriage.
People with mental health issues irrespective of their status had a very hard life then. And how they never got any sympathy until death just makes it worse
Yes, it does sound like she was not well mental-health wise. It would also not have been easy to live as she was living- the scorned wife of a national hero who could have anyone else (and was having them) while she truly had no one on her side.
One of the women he had an affair with,Lady Hamilton (Emma), is just fascinating. Opps, I remembered wrong she had an affair with the naval hero Nelson, read about her anyway though, lol.Also, take note of Arthur not even leaving England until he was a Lieutenant Colonel. A well connected man like Colonel Fitzwilliam might never have actually gone abroad to fight, but had a career entirely on the home front. Commissions in these regiments cost the most, so poorer gentry, like Colonel Brandon, were far more likely to actually fight. (It's also hinted that Captain Tilney is stationed at home, in London).
I just went to read about Lady Hamilton and honestly, WHAT A READ! She was so interesting, lol. Did they really have an affair though? She seemed pretty devoted to Nelson.
Oh opps! Wrong Napoleonic war hero... No I meant Nelson and got mixed up.
Oh, it's okay. You gave me such an interesting personality to read about, her come-up was as iconic as her ultimate downfall.
She has a fascinating history.
I don’t think he had an affair with Emma Hamilton! I think Admiral Nelson did, but not Wellington.
Yes, I got them mixed up. I fixed it. She is really interesting though
I think Wellington was too busy with Harriet Wilson and her sisters.
Well, he did leave England from time to time; he was born and raised in Ireland. He never left the United Kingdom (as it was back then).
Interesting parallel. Thanks for outlining it. I wonder if she mined that true story for the novel, or if it is a coincidence.
Jane Austen likely didn't know about the scandalous marriage of Wellington's older brother, who married his French mistress after having several children with her. One of those children, who were later legitimized, is an ancestor of King Charles III, via his grandmother, the "Queen Mum."
I doubt she didn't know of it, I think that polite society expected unmarried females to not know of it. It didn't necessarily mean that they couldn't find out from other sources though 😉