Lady Jane Wellesley
{{Short description|British television producer and writer}}
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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.{{cite news |last1=Godwin |first1=Richard |title=We Wellingtons — we are very nouveau |url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/we-wellingtons-we-are-very-nouveau-5xmtmtwc8rq |access-date=11 December 2023 |work=The Times |date=1 June 2015}} She was raised in London and at Stratfield Saye House, the family's seat in Hampshire.{{cite web |title=Family Home of Lady Jane Wellesley |url=https://imsvintagephotos.com/products/family-home-of-lady-jane-wellesley-vintage-photograph-2935454 |website=IMS Vintage Photos |access-date=11 December 2023}}
In her youth, she dated the Prince of Wales (later King Charles III) in the early 1970s.{{cite magazine |title=The Man Who Will Be King |url=https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,948114-5,00.html |access-date=10 December 2023 |magazine=TIME |date=25 May 1978}}{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=Christopher |title=Prince Charles and his relationships |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-charles/10436036/Prince-Charles-and-his-relationships.html?onwardjourney=584162_c1 |access-date=10 December 2023 |work=The Telegraph |date=10 November 2013}}
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.{{cite web |title=Jane Wellesley |url=https://petersfraserdunlop.com/clients/jane-wellesley/ |website=Peters Fraser + Dunlop |access-date=11 December 2023}} In 1987, she produced the documentary The Riddle of Midnight with novelist Salman Rushdie.{{cite book |last1=Rushdie |first1=Salman |title=Joseph Anton: A Memoir |date=2012 |publisher=Random House |location=New York |isbn=9781448155606 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3gTogEnPwE0C&dq=the+riddle+of+midnight+salman+rushdie+jane+wellesley&pg=PT202 |access-date=11 December 2023}} 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.{{cite news |last1=Walters |first1=Joanna |title=Marie Colvin: mourners say farewell to 'talented, compassionate' war reporter |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/mar/12/marie-colvin-funeral-mourners-farewell |access-date=11 December 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=12 March 2012}} In Colvin's honour, she was a co-founder of the Marie Colvin Journalists’ Network.{{cite web |title=Resources |url=https://mariecolvin.org/resources |website=Marie Colvin Memorial Foundation |access-date=11 December 2023}}
In 2008, Wellesley published her first work on her family history, Wellington: A Journey Through My Family.{{cite news |last1=Trippney |first1=Natasha |title=A Journey Through My Family: The Wellington Story by Jane Wellesley |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/dec/20/journey-through-family-wellington-story |access-date=11 December 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=20 December 2009}} 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.{{cite news |last1=Watling |first1=Sarah |title=Mocked by Woolf, seduced by Vita Sackville-West: who was Dorothy Wellesley? |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/blue-eyes-wild-spirit-review-jane-wellesley-dorothy/ |access-date=11 December 2023 |work=The Telegraph |date=10 June 2023}}
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
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Category:Daughters of British dukes
Category:British women television producers
Category:British women non-fiction writers
Category:20th-century British non-fiction writers
Category:21st-century British non-fiction writers
Category:British women biographers
Category:20th-century British biographers