Gerald Wellesley

Gerald Valerian Wellesley (1809 – 17 September 1882) was a Church of England cleric who became the Dean of Windsor.

A nephew of the Duke of Wellington, he was domestic chaplain to Queen Victoria and played a major advisory role regarding the royal family's personal affairs.

[3] His first living was a family one at Stratfield Saye (1836–1854), during which he became Queen Victoria's resident chaplain (in 1849), leading to his appointment as Dean in 1854.

Tactful and gentlemanly in demeanour, religiously analogous to the queen, and a preacher of short sermons, he became "one of Victoria's most valued advisers",[4] doing "everything on all sad and happy occasions to make me comfortable"[5] and acting as an intermediary between her and Gladstone on both ecclesiastical and secular matters.

Her appreciation of him was summed up in what she required in his successor as dean: Gladstone frequently sought his advice on patronage questions, noting in his diary at the time of Wellesley's death: Wellesley died in Hazelwood, near Watford, and was buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor; his widow was appointed "Extra Woman of the Bedchamber" in November 1882.