She was the elder child and only daughter of
Arthur Wellesley, 5th Duke of Wellington, 5th
Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo, and his wife, the Hon. Lilian Maud Glen Coats (elder daughter of
George Coats, 1st Baron Glentanar). During her late teens, she courted (and was rumoured to be the fiancée of)
Edward, Prince of Wales. In the winter of 1928, she was suffering from
pneumonia whilst the Prince was touring
Africa, and he is said to have received coded radio bulletins about her health. Rumours of their engagement were later officially denied by
Buckingham Palace. On 23 March 1933, she married the Hon. David Rhys, younger son of the
7th Baron Dynevor. She was one of a series of society beauties photographed as classical figures by
Madame Yevonde. The couple had two children, Llewelyn Arthur (1935–2005) and Elizabeth Maud (1937–2001), and divorced in 1963. Her brother,
Henry, had inherited their father's titles in 1941. Upon Henry's death in September 1943, she inherited the Spanish
Dukedom of Ciudad Rodrigo and the honour of
Grandee of Spain (which had been awarded to her ancestor, the
1st Duke, and was able to pass through the female line), whilst the non-Spanish titles passed to her uncle,
Lord Gerald Wellesley. She became the 7th Duchess of Ciudad Rodrigo, and her husband was styled as Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo and Grandee of Spain. However, she ceded the dukedom and two estates in
Andalucia to her uncle in 1949, in exchange for a monetary settlement. ==Sources==