The Duel and the Duke - London, 1829

The Cloak and Dagger Podcast · Feb 28, 2024 · 1h 1m

In the misty dawn of a March morning in 1829 a duel is about to take place in Battersea.

Whilst duels were still fairly common at the time, they were frowned upon by most and especially by army generals like the Duke of Wellington. Wellington had outlawed duelling during the Napoleonic wars because he kept losing good officers to duels.

And yet, it is the Duke himself who now stands in that field in Battersea. Not only that, he was now the Prime Minister and is taking a massive risk. If this goes wrong, Britain would lose its most famous general, a peer of the realm and its current Prime…