Preparations, 1806-1808
Wellesley returned home and in 1806 to marriage with
Kitty Pakenham, who had refused his initial proposal
ten years earlier. The union proved to be of mixed fortunes,
to say the least. Wellesley's political career, however,
was advanced with his election to Parliament at Rye,
in Cornwall and at Newport, Isle of Wight, and with
his appointment to the lucrative post of Irish Chief
Secretary in April 1807.
Soon after, he was despatched on his latest mission
under Lord Cathcart to secure the Danish fleet at Copenhagen
and avert a mooted blockade of Britain by Napoleon.
Its success was celebrated in the name of Wellesley's
most prized charger, today buried in the grounds of
Stratfield Saye.
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