| Prince of Waterloo Prins van Waterloo Prince de Waterloo | |
|---|---|
 Arms of the Dukes of Wellington as Prince of Waterloo. | |
| Creation date | 8 July 1815 |
| Created by | King William I |
| Peerage | Dutch andBelgian nobility |
| First holder | Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington |
| Present holder | Charles Wellesley, 9th Duke of Wellington |
| Heir apparent | Arthur Wellesley, Earl of Mornington |
| Remainder to | the 1st Duke'sheirs maleof the body lawfully begotten |
| Motto | Virtutis Fortuna Comes |
Prince of Waterloo (Dutch:Prins van Waterloo,French:Prince de Waterloo) is a title in theDutch andBelgian nobility, held by theDuke of Wellington. The title was created byKing William I of the Netherlands forField MarshalArthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington as avictory title in recognition of defeatingNapoleon at theBattle of Waterloo in 1815. The Duke of Wellington and all his descendants along the male line belong to Dutch and Belgian nobility, in which all the descendant dukes carry the title of "Prince of Waterloo" with the style "Serene Highness" (Dutch:Doorluchtigheid). The rest of his family retain the DutchhonorificJonkheer orJonkvrouw.
In addition to this title, the Dutch king also granted Wellington 1,050 hectares (2,600 acres) of land and a yearly endowment 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 separateKingdom of Belgium in 1831, the title (being Dutch) and the land (located in Belgium) became separated.[vague] After the Belgian independence the endowment was by theTreaty of London included in the public debt to be assumed by the new Kingdom of Belgium.
The land held by the Prince of Waterloo came under pressure from retiredBelgian senator Jean-Emile Humblet in 2001.[2] In 1817, the government in what is nowBelgium 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 then Prince of Waterloo,Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington, agreed to forgo the payment in exchange for outright ownership of 24 ha (60 acres) of the 1,050 ha (2,600 acres) to which he has rights. But some Belgian taxpayers, led by Humblet, claimed the deal did not reflect the value of the land and drew attention to the wider issues surrounding the original agreement, contending that Belgium was effectively coerced into accepting the terms of the original agreement, because it could not afford to offendBritain.[3][4]
In 2009 a Member of Parliament fromVlaams 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]
The heir apparent is the present holder's sonJonkheer Arthur Gerald Wellesley (b. 1978).
| Wellesley family tree: Dukes ofWellington,Victoria, andCiudad Rodrigo, andPrinces of Waterloo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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