who was zelda in peaky blinders

Zelda was the Romani woman from Tommy Shelby’s past who became the mother of his illegitimate son, Duke Shelby. She never appears on-screen in the original TV series, but the story says Tommy met her at the Appleby Fair in 1914, they spent a night together, and she later raised Duke on her own after Tommy left for war.

In the story

• Zelda is part of the Shelby family backstory, not one of the main on-screen characters in the series.

• Her son is Erasmus “Duke” Shelby, later known simply as Duke.

• The character is tied to the show’s Romani heritage and family mythology.

Why people ask about her

Zelda gets brought up because fans only learn about her indirectly through Duke’s storyline, so she feels like a “missing” character in the Peaky Blinders universe.

TL;DR: Zelda was Tommy Shelby’s Romani lover and Duke Shelby’s mother, mentioned in the lore but not really seen in the original series.