Wellington's Horse Copenhagen

 

Copenhagen as painted in his retirement by Samuel Spode.

Wellington’s chestnut stallion Copenhagen was the Duke's war horse, which he most famously rode at the Battle of Waterloo. Copenhagen was born in 1808 and was named in honour of the British victory at the Second Battle of Copenhagen. Copenhagen was of mixed Thoroughbred and Arabian parentage.

He stood 15 hands high and had a muscular physique on a small compact frame in fact he was a racing horse. He was bread by the Derby winner John Bull and his sire Meteor having finished second in the Derby in 1786. Copenhagen did race in England for a short period, winning just two races and finishing at least third in nine races out of his 12 career starts. 

The then General Grosvenor sold Copenhagen to Sir Charles Vane in 1812 and was sent to Lisbon in 1813 with a contingent of other horses due to Vane's service as an adjutant-general in the Peninsular War. When Sir Charles left Spain to join the Allied armies in Germany, Copenhagen was sold to Colonel Charles Wood (Colonel Gordon, who died at Waterloo) for 200 or 250 guineas, The Colonel bought the five year old Copenhagen and another horse for the Duke of Wellington. Wellington rode him throughout the Peninsular Campaign, particularly at Vitoria and in the Pyrenees but he had some fifteen other horses from which to choose. 

Wellington described him as "a dark chestnut with two white heels, [he was] a hollow-backed, powerful horse" but reportedly had "bad shoulders." Copenhagen allegedly "never refused his corn" but had an unusual habit of eating while lying down. Wellington said of Copenhagen, "There may have been many faster horses, no doubt many handsomer, but for bottom and endurance I never saw his fellow." His "enduring qualities" were often attributed to his "Arabian blood."

Wellington on Copenhagen, painted by Thomas Lawrence.

Becoming his favourite, Copenhagen was the Duke's mount in the Battle of Waterloo which actually made the horse’s reputation. Wellington rode Copenhagen in a number of battles. Before Waterloo he took him on his hazardous ride to Wavre to liaise with Marshal Blücher. during the Battle of Waterloo, Copenhagen carried the Duke's for 17 hours continuously during the battle. Immediately after the battle, from which Wellington emerged uninjured, Wellington dismounted and patted Copenhagen on the flank, causing the horse to kick towards the Duke's head, which the Duke narrowly avoided. Copenhagen continued to be Wellington's primary horse during the occupation of France. 

Retirement and death

The Duke continued to ride Copenhagen in parades and other ceremonial events after the battle. Hair from the horse was made into jewellery. The horse was retired to the Duke's Stratfield Saye House and lived as a pensioner there for the remainder of his long life in 1828. Copenhagen was said to, "liked being noticed" and "kissed hands and ate his apples with all possible grace." Copenhagen died from reportedly due to indulging in too many sugary "dainties" such as "sponge cakes, bath buns and chocolate creams," but he most likely died due to his advanced age. 

Despite becoming deaf and blind, he was given the very best care until his death. He died on 12 February 1836 at the age of 28 years. He was buried very early in the morning the next day with full military honours in the Ice-House Paddock at the Duke's country residence, Stratfield Saye House. The Duke personally witnessed the horse's burial and reportedly "flew into a most violent passion" when he noticed that one of Copenhagen's hooves had been cut off as a souvenir. The Duke reportedly exhumed Copenhagen's body a few months after his death to retrieve the other hooves as keepsakes, but "his three remaining hoofs had rotted away." The pilfered hoof was eventually recovered. According to one source, a farmer bought the hoof for a little over three shillings and returned the hoof directly to the Duke. In another account, a servant confessed to the Duke's son many years after the incident to taking the hoof, stating that at the time, "None of us imagined that the first Duke would trouble his head about the carcase of the horse." The returned hoof was later made into an ink-stand by the second Duke.

Copenhagen was buried without a headstone, and a few years after his death, the Duke was asked by the United Services Museum to disinter his body so that Copenhagen's skeleton could be publicly displayed alongside the skeleton of Napoleon's horse Marengo. The Duke refused and claimed that he did not "know for sure where Copenhagen was buried," The paddock where he was buried at one time had "a noble cluster of elms in the centre" and his grave was once surrounded by a small railing. 

His grave site is marked with a marble headstone that stands under a Turkey Oak planted in 1843 by the elder Duke's housekeeper Mrs. Apostles. A lead plaque with the inscription and "some coins of George IV, William IV and Queen Victoria" were buried at the grave site. The inscription reads:

 

Here Lies

COPENHAGEN

The Charger ridden by

THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON

The entire day at the

BATTLE OF WATERLOO.

Born 1808. Died 1836 

God's humbler instrument though meaner clay

Should share the glory of that glorious day.