The British Are Coming

The last couple of days have seen  some ceremonies in Madrid marking the two hundredth anniversary of the start of ‘Peninsula War’ – the fight against the French Empire that began with Napoleons troops capturing Barcelona and finally resulted in the eventual expulsion of Napoleon’s armies from Spain, and later his defeat at Waterloo.
The local TV station (Telemadrid)  covered the various celebrations quite fully and TVE1 did an interesting item from a museum that houses old military uniforms of the various participants. Both channels mentioned Wellington and the role the British played – although not perhaps as much as should be warranted. We were also shown a dinner set (complete with tea cups and china plates) that Wellington used during the campaign, that’s now housed in a glass case in the museum.

I can just imagine The Iron Duke taking elevenses in between skirmishes on the plains outside Salamanca.