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Duke of Victoria

Portuguese title of nobility

Duke of Victoria (Portuguese: Duque da Vitória, lit.'Victorious Duke, or Duke of Victory') is a Portuguese title of nobility retained by the Duke of Wellington.

The title was created by Prince Regent John of Portugal (later King John VI) on 18 December 1812 to honour the British General Arthur Wellesley, who commanded the armies that eventually defeated the troops of Emperor Napoleon I of France in the Peninsular War. It was the only grant of a Portuguese dukedom to a foreigner.

Arthur Wellesley had already received the Portuguese titles Conde de Vimeiro (Count of Vimeiro, 18 October 1811) and Marquês de Torres Vedras (Marquess of Torres Vedras, 17 December 1812), which became titles subsidiary to that of Duque da Vitória. He also received the British peerage title Duke of Wellington, and other titles and honours from the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands. All these titles have been passed to his heirs to the present day.

01Dukes of Victoria since 1812

The heir apparent is the present holder's son Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Douro, whose heir apparent is his son Arthur Darcy Wellesley.

02Family tree

Wellesley family tree: Dukes of Wellington, Victoria, and Ciudad Rodrigo, and Princes of Waterloo
Baron Mornington of Mornington, 1746
Richard Colley Wesley
1690-1758
1st Baron Mornington
Earl of Mornington and Viscount Wellesley, of Dangan Castle in the County of Meath, 1760
Richard Colley Wesley
1735-1781
1st Earl of Mornington, etc., 2nd Baron Mornington
Baron Wellesley of Wellesley in the County of Somerset, 1797
Marquess Wellesley of Norragh, 1799
Baron Maryborough of Maryborough in the Queen's County, 1821Viscount Wellington (UK), 1809
Count of Vimeiro (Portugal), 1811
Marquess of Wellington (UK), 1812
Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo (Spain), 1812

Duke of Victoria and Marquess of Torres Vedras (Portugal), 1812
Duke of Wellington (UK) and Marquess Douro and Baron Douro (Portugal), 1814
Prince of Waterloo (Netherlands), 1815
Richard Wellesley
1760-1842
Marquess Wellesley, etc., 2nd Earl of Mornington, etc., 3rd Baron Mornington
William Wellesley-Pole
1763-1845
3rd Earl of Mornington, etc., 4th Baron Mornington, 1st Baron Maryborough
Arthur Wellesley
1769-1852
1st Duke of Wellington, etc.
Marquessate Wellesley and Barony Wellesley extinct, 1842
William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley
1788-1857
4th Earl of Mornington, etc., 5th Baron Mornington, 2nd Baron Maryborough
Arthur Richard Wellesley
1807-1884
2nd Duke of Wellington, etc., 6th Earl of Mornington, etc.
Lord Charles Wellesley
1808-1858
William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley
1813-1863
5th Earl of Mornington, etc., 6th Baron Mornington, 3rd Baron Maryborough
Henry Wellesley
1846-1900
3rd Duke of Wellington, etc., 7th Earl of Mornington, etc.
Arthur Charles Wellesley
1849-1934
4th Duke of Wellington, etc., 8th Earl of Mornington, etc.
Barony Maryborough extinct, 1863
Arthur Charles Wellesley
1876-1941
5th Duke of Wellington, etc., 9th Earl of Mornington, etc.
Gerald Wellesley
1885-1972
7th Duke of Wellington, etc., 8th Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo, 10th Earl of Mornington, etc.
Anne Rhys
1910-1998
7th Duchess of Ciudad Rodrigo
Henry Valerian George Wellesley
1912-1943
6th Duke of Wellington, etc., 11th Earl of Mornington, etc.
Arthur Valerian Wellesley
1915-2014
8th Duke of Wellington, etc., 9th Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo, 12th Earl of Mornington, etc.
Baron Wellington of Stratfield Saye, 2026
Arthur Charles Valerian Wellesley
b.1945
9th Duke of Wellington, etc., 10th Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo, 13th Earl of Mornington, etc., Baron Wellington of Stratfield Saye
Arthur Gerald Wellesley
styled Marquess of Douro
b.1978
Arthur Darcy Wellesley
b.2010
styled Earl of Mornington

03Use of titles of nobility in the Portuguese Republic

With the end of the Portuguese monarchy in 1910, all titles of Portuguese nobility were initially abolished. Notwithstanding, although the status of nobility has not been recognised in law since 1910, legitimate titles of nobility (those granted by a reigning monarch before 5 October 1910) have been given legal recognition and protection, including under article 26 of the Portuguese Constitution, in conjunction with articles 70 and 72 of the Civil Code, as established by decision of Portugal's Supreme Court of Justice in 2014.

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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Duke of Victoria, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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