The archetype of the stern, silent Englishman dedicated to his duty, the Duke of Wellington had all the subtlety and variety of genius. This biography uncovers the sensitive child of Irish aristocrats pushed into the army, making his name in India before returning to lead the Allied Armies to victory against Napoleon in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo. Swapping battlegrounds for political minefields, Wellington emerges as a conservative Tory Prime Minister of a country demanding every variety of reform. Many strands gradually come together in his character, to make at last the ideal he had always held out for himself: the retained servant of king and people. The book reveals this very human character, bringing together in one paperback the two-volume hardback edition.