March 21st, 1829. Battersea Fields, London.
The Duke of Wellington stood in the morning mist of Battersea Fields, a dueling pistol in his hand and the weight of a nation on his shoulders. At fifty-nine, he was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the conqueror of Napoleon, and arguably the most famous man in the British Empire. He was also, on this particular Saturday morning, about to risk everything he had built in a battle with a political opponent barely half his age.
Across from him, George Finch-Hatton, the 10th Earl of Winchilsea, cut a striking figure in the early dawn light. At thirty-seven, he was young, passionate, and convinced that he was fighting for the soul of Protestant England against the forces of Catholic conspiracy. He was also about to learn what it meant to challenge a man who had spent his entire adult life facing down enemies and emerging victorious...
