A grandson of the undefeated Eclipse and a son of Meteor, who finished second in the seventh running of the Derby, in 1786, Copenhagen enjoyed his own brief, but not entirely unsuccessful, racing career as a three- and four-year-old in 1811 and 1812. However, he is best remembered as a war horse, specifically as the favoured mount of Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington, who rode him at the Battle of Waterloo, which marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars, in 1815.
Foaled in 1808, possibly in the Danish capital, Copenhagen or, more likely, at Eaton Hall, the country seat of the Duke of Westminster, in Cheshire, North West England, Copenhagen was named, in either case, in honour of the British victory in the Second Battle of Copenhagen, which concluded in the autumn before his birth. Following his retirement from racing in May 1812, Copenhagen was sold to Charles Vane by his original owner Thomas Grosvenor and began his military career in Lisbon, Portugal during the Peninsular War.
Copenhagen was still a five-year-old when he was purchased by the Duke of Wellington, who went on to ride him before, during and after the Battle of Waterloo. Indeed, according to his epitaph, Copenhagen was ridden the ‘entire day’ – or, in other words, continuously for 17 or 18 hours – at the Battle of Waterloo by the ‘Iron Duke’. Wellington later wrote of his gallant horse, “…for bottom and endurance I never saw his fellow.”
In fact, Wellington held Copenhagen in such regard that when he died, of old age, on February 12, 1836 at the age 28, he was buried with full military honours, including a salute fired over his grave, at Stratfield Saye House, Hampshire. His grave is marked by a marble headstone, erected by the Second Duke of Wellington following the death of his father.