I was just thinking the same thing – and we have also lost Queen Fabiola over in Belgium and the Duchess of Alba over in Spain. It seems that 2014 has unfortunately been the year of deaths (aside from royalty we have also lost some famous faces, and personally I have lost two family members), so I hope 2015 will be the year of happy events – weddings, births, engagements etc.
The saddest thing about the Duke of Wellington's death for me is that he was one year of one hundred, which is a huge milestone, and also one day off 2015 (in England it's still New Year's Eve, right now we have three hours until January 1).
I find it interesting that the new Duchess of Marlborough still has "Princess" in her title, though I read that titles from defunct monarchies are still recognised in countries that still have their monarchy.
I didn't realise that Prince Philip is the oldest Duke in the UK now. Do we know who is the oldest Duke in UK is after Prince Philip?