Lady Caroline Jane Wellesley (born 6 July 1951) is a British television producer and writer. She is the daughter of Valerian, 8th Duke of Wellington.
Early life
Wellesley was born on 6 July 1951, she is the third child and only daughter of Valerian, Marquess of Douro, later 8th Duke of Wellington, and Diana McConnel. Through her father, she is a direct descendant of the 1st Duke of Wellington. She was raised in London and at Stratfield Saye House, the family's seat in Hampshire.
In her youth, she dated the Prince of Wales (later King Charles III) in the early 1970s.
Career
Wellesley began her career working for Apollo magazine and P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. In 1975, her television production career began with a position at Radio Times and subsequently the BBC and Granada Studios. She became in independent producer in the 1980s, running Antelope Films and Warner Sisters Film and TV. In 1987, she produced the documentary The Riddle of Midnight with novelist Salman Rushdie. Her other production credits include A Village Affair (1995) and Lady Audley's Secret (2000).
Wellesley was a close friend of American journalist Marie Colvin who was killed in an attack by Syrian government forces while she was covering the siege of Homs for The Sunday Times. In Colvin's honour, she was a co-founder of the Marie Colvin Journalists’ Network.
In 2008, Wellesley published her first work on her family history, Wellington: A Journey Through My Family. She updated and released the book in 2015 for the bicentennial of the Battle of Waterloo. In 2023, she published Blue Eyes and a Wild Spirit: A Life of Dorothy Wellesley, a biography of her paternal grandmother, Dorothy, Duchess of Wellington.
Bibliography
- Wellington: A Journey Through My Family. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2008. Hardcover: ISBN 9780297852315
- Blue Eyes and a Wild Spirit: A Life of Dorothy Wellesley. Sheffield: Sandstone Press, 2023. Hardcover: ISBN 9781914518232
References
- ^ Godwin, Richard (1 June 2015). "We Wellingtons — we are very nouveau". The Times. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- "Family Home of Lady Jane Wellesley". IMS Vintage Photos. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- "The Man Who Will Be King". TIME. 25 May 1978. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
- Wilson, Christopher (10 November 2013). "Prince Charles and his relationships". The Telegraph. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
- ^ "Jane Wellesley". Peters Fraser + Dunlop. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- Rushdie, Salman (2012). Joseph Anton: A Memoir. New York: Random House. ISBN 9781448155606. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- Walters, Joanna (12 March 2012). "Marie Colvin: mourners say farewell to 'talented, compassionate' war reporter". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- "Resources". Marie Colvin Memorial Foundation. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- Trippney, Natasha (20 December 2009). "A Journey Through My Family: The Wellington Story by Jane Wellesley". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- Watling, Sarah (10 June 2023). "Mocked by Woolf, seduced by Vita Sackville-West: who was Dorothy Wellesley?". The Telegraph. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- 1951 births
- Living people
- Daughters of British dukes
- British women television producers
- British women non-fiction writers
- 20th-century British non-fiction writers
- 21st-century British non-fiction writers
- British women biographers
- 20th-century British biographers
- 21st-century British biographers
- Wellesley family