Frankly, I never imagined this could happen but here I am with a question about the Duke of Wellington, of all people. And I hope this is the best place for it 😊.
People are probably familiar with the anecdote that has Wellington, during the coronation ceremonies of Queen Victoria in 1838 that Soult attended as ambassador of France, sneak up on Soult, grab him by the arm and exclaim: "I have you at last!" - I have seen it mentioned in several publications. But where does it come from, how old is it, when and where does it first appear?
The thing is, I've found a very similar anecdote from the same time period, but with Soult as the speaker (adressing general Hill). Can it be verified if these are two different incidents, or if this is a case of public memory basically turning this anecdote on its head? I'm mostly interested in how (popular) historiography in this case has worked.
Thank you very much in advance for every bit of input!
I confess, the anecdote is new to me. I can't offer any primary material of the sort you seek, although I have to say this anecdote does seem rather improbable. The most respectable version I have seen, with which you may be familiar. comes from William Allan writing in History Today  1969 (See below). It is vivid but no source is offered. The image of the Duke as his bemused guests watch him tiptoe the full length the drawing at Apsley drawing room, "a silk handkerchief held across his face, and steal up behind a figure in a plain blue coat topped by a untidy mane of grey hair who was lounging abstractedly by one of the fireplace" before he "pounced on the stranger, pinioned him round the shoulders and let forth a deafening cry of ‘View Halloo! I’ve got him, by damme; I’ve found you at last, Marshal Soult!’- does not exactly ring true. Of course, I stand to be corrected. Do Apsley House mention it in any of their platforms? The anecdote regarding Lord Hill dates from press reports of the time that reported Soult greeting Hill, when introduced at the dinner hosted by Wellington at Apsley House, with the words "At last, then, I have the pleasure of meeting your Lordship, you whom I once pursued for so long a time in vain." A political cartoon of the time entitled "La Belle Alliance" depicts the meeting. This episode was dismissed as apocryphal  as early as 1841 ('An Illustrative Key to the Political Sketches of H.B.', London 1841) The two do seem to be quite different sorts of encounters, but the twists and turns of popular tradition - particularly in this era when tales of the British army and Wellington against the French- flourished and circulated in ever more available press and publications - are imponderable.
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/marshal-soult https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0808-11866