Yolande Trueman (previously Duke) is the wife of Patrick Trueman and ex-wife of Victor Duke. She made her first appearance on 16 September 2003. She is portrayed by Angela Wynter.
Backstory[]
Yolande was born in Jamaica on 24th March 1953. She later moved to Trinidad, and met Victor Duke who she fell in love with and married in 1980.
Storylines[]
2003-2008: Arrival, marrying Patrick and departure[]
Yolande arrives in Walford on 16 September 2003, as Patrick Trueman's holiday romance. They had met during Patrick's visit to his homeland of Trinidad, where the middle-aged couple enjoyed a steamy affair, much the contrary to Yolande's boring marriage to a strict, uptight, and religious Victor Duke, whose traditional customs included viewing women as objects to bear and raise children.
After thinking that Patrick only wanted a casual fling, Yolande decides to return to Trinidad, but is persuaded to stay after Patrick tells her that he has fallen for her. Victor then arrives in Walford to take Yolande back to Trinidad, and gives Patrick £10,000 to allow him to bring his wife back. Patrick ultimately refuses, and decides to return the money to Victor, however Yolande spots Patrick with the money in his hand and mistakenly believes that he has accepted Victor's offer.
Ten months later, Patrick and Yolande get married, and foster a girl called Katie. They then begin a small business empire in Walford, owning and managing the Minute Mart, the Square's bed and breakfast and Trueman's Motors.
In 2006, Yolande starts feuding with Pat Evans after she becomes involved in Trueman's Motors, as competition with Pat's own car dealership. Their rivalry intensifies when Pat begins an affair with Patrick, with Stacey Slater catching them kissing and telling Yolande, causing a fight in The Queen Victoria. To get revenge on Patrick, Yolande goes to a nightclub and talks with Kevin Wicks, and the pair arrange to go back to his house, but she has second thoughts and backs out.
In October 2006, Patrick thinks that Yolande had a one-night stand with Aubrey Valentine, Patrick's old friend and former band mate from The Five Hectors, resulting in Patrick throwing her out of the house. When confronted however, Aubrey admits the story was false, and Patrick reconciles with Yolande.
In September 2008, Patrick accidentally turns off the chiller cabinet at the Minute Mart and then sells the unchilled food which gives a number of customers including Dot Branning food poisoning. The resulting complaints result in a visit from an inspector from the Minute Mart head office. He is so impressed with Yolande's efforts to clean up the shop that she is subsequently offered a job at the Minute Mart HQ in Birmingham. Yolande accepts with delight and busily prepares for the move, however Patrick is less keen, and when confronted, he indicates that he wants to stay in Walford.
On 3 October 2008, Yolande leaves Walford for a new life in Birmingham. She surprises everyone at her leaving party by announcing that she is leaving alone. But as Patrick waves her off at the tube station, he tells her that once the house is sold, he would follow her to Birmingham. However Patrick does not reunite with Yolande, and on 19 May 2009 Patrick receives their divorce papers.
2017: Returns[]
Yolande re-appears on the 20 March 2017, when Denise Fox has to visit head office to explain why she made the Minute Mart look bad in the Walford Gazette. In June 2017, Yolande visits Derek Harkinson at the Minute Mart, telling him that he will be removed from the back to work scheme after he fails to declare his criminal record on his DBS. Yolande then visits Patrick for his birthday, where they dance and reminisce. Yolande phones Derek to tell him that they have to let him go from the scheme and he has to leave the shop.
On 9 August 2022 - Part 1, Suki Panesar speaks to Yolande over the phone about renewing the lease for the Minute Mart and Suki contests the price that they're suggesting. Yolande tells Suki that she will speak to her boss and get back to her.
2023-: Return and being sexual assaulted by Clayton[]
In February 2023, Denzel Danes enters a non-fiction writing contest and wins, however, he copied the plot from a series Amy Mitchell had made him watch. When the Walford gazette gets in touch wanting an interview, Denzel panics, however Howie helps him get through it. The gazette later want an interview with his grandparents he'd talked about in the story, however his grandmother lives in the Caribbean, so Howie hatches a plan involving Patrick to act as Denzel's grandad, and gets Vi Highway to act as his step-grandmother. The gazette love the interview, and later ask them back for a second one, which they agree to do. When returning from the second interview, Vi receives a call from an unknown number, which later turns out to be Stuart Highway, who invites her to live with them as a live-in nanny for Roland Highway, which she accepts, leaving the square for another part of London which she says is only an hour away. After Vi's departure, after pretending to have been with Vi, Patrick realises that Yolande Trueman is his one true love and temporarily leaves Walford to try and win her back. However, before he goes he invites Kim, Denzel and his father, Howie Danes to dinner and gives Denzel some money so he can treat Amy.
In August 2023, Yolande returns to Walford when her ex-partner, Anton, kicks her out of their house in Birmingham after he found out about Patrick and Yolande's affair. Yolande asks Patrick if she can stay with him, but he is reluctant so Yolande decides to stay with Denise at 20 Albert Square for the night. After some convincing from Amy Mitchell and Denzel Danes, Patrick changes his mind about Yolande and as she is about to leave, he runs to Walford East Tube Station and convinces Yolande to remain in Walford. Patrick and Yolande later get back together after a heart-to heart and dance in the launderette.
Anton turns up in Walford to win Yolande back and discovers that Yolande is now in a relationship with Patrick. Patrick and Anton get into a heated row and Anton grabs Patrick but he is restrained by Yolande, Anton later tells Yolande that he is going back to Birmingham and he wants her to come back with him. The next day Yolande reveals to Patrick that Anton tricked her into giving him the pass code for the safe in the church and threatened to frame her if she left him. Patrick texts Anton on Yolande's phone and confronts him, Anton admits to stealing from the church unaware that Patrick is recording him. Patrick then blackmails Anton to leave or he will give the recording to the police.
Yolande has a conversation with Whitney at the allotments and bond over both being foster parents, Whitney reveals that she is pregnant and Yolande reveals that she deliberately never got pregnant with her ex-husband Victor as he was a bad man but says she wished she had met Patrick when she was younger and says that she would have had kids with him. Yolande is later told by Denzel that Pastor Clayton has a crush on her, Denzel reveals that he is worries that Clayton will break her and Patrick up. In January 2024, when Denzel is getting beat up, she tries to save him but falls over and hits her head. She starts getting beaten but is saved by Avani Nandra-Hart.
Pastor Clayton has recently been making himself very close with Yolande whilst working towards the community fundraiser. One time he groped her and when she confronted him about it he got angry and upset asking Yolande how she could feel so against him and her calls her dirty minded. He later pushes her back in the fundraiser and introduces his wife Stella Clayton. On the day of the fundraiser, The Pastor follows Yolande into a storage room saying to her that "We have a lot of time" and then locks the door, the next scene shows Yolande on the floor crying as he has sexually assaulted her. Elaine Peacock finds Yolande in the launderette sobbing and tries to persuade her to tell the authorities. Though, she is humiliated to even think about telling someone about her body. Elaine carries on trying to convince her to tell someone and uses Linda Carter as an example. The episode also highlights previous victims of Pastor Clayton's assaults and how justice has not yet been served. Yolande then tells Elaine to forget about the whole thing and adds on: "I shouldn't have told you this." Yolande says that she will do the same and then returns home, crying on the steps.
Yolande's abnormal behaviour concerns the local residents, Patrick and Yolande's bond is close to being destroyed due to her ignorance and desire to always be alone. Patrick reaches out to Pastor Clayton for support and he 'admits' that she may have dementia. When Patrick confronts Yolande, she gets agitated and states she does not have dementia.
In a special episode between Patrick and Yolande, Elaine reveals the truth of the assault to Patrick via phone call. Yolande runs away into the bathroom and cries. Patrick tries to understand the situation but runs outside to give the Pastor a "damn good hiding". Yolande begs him to come back inside as she promises to open up. Inside, Patrick concludes that Yolande is partly to blame for the assault after cosying up to the Pastor - Yolande enrages and screams at Patrick for blaming her. After he manages to calm her down, they begin to smile and Yolande opens up more, saying that she doesn't want to go to the police. Yolande also adds on how this assault will not get her out of Walford or ruin her life, and she promises to step up and tell the church superiors about the assault.
Yolande speaks to Levi and he tells her that the Church Superiors will be in touch within a week. Yolande and Patrick then decide to go away for a bit to clear the air. When they return, Yolande is disappointed to learn that Levi has disappeared. However, Kim and Howie return and are disappointed with Yolande and Patrick's supervision over Denzel during their absence. Yolande struggles to open up and say the truth.
When Jordan's baptism arrives, Yolande isn't satisfied to see Pastor Clayton hosting it, though she keeps calm. Despite her silence, Clayton still interacts with her and warns her to stay silent and not be suspicious. Yolande is shaken and confides in Denise, but doesn't give her the full story. Later that day, the Pastor puts his hand around Yolande for a photo which spooks her, so she runs away and reports the sexual assault to the police. Consequently, the Pastor is arrested but released due to insufficient evidence.
To her surprise, Levi shows up unexpectedly and says he's been looking into the case further. He reveals that a woman named Delia Bennett had also suffered with sexual assault from Pastor Clayton in 2016. Levi arranges for the two to meet and they both break down to each other. Although, they both stay resilient and make another report to the police again. Thankfully, both of their cases are re-opened and the Pastor is once again arrested for further investigation.
Residence history[]
| Address | Years |
|---|---|
| 18-20 Albert Square | 2004-2008 |
| Birmingham | 2008-2023 |
| 20 Albert Square | 2023- |
Fight count[]
Slaps[]
- Patrick Trueman (2 February 2006)
- Patrick Trueman (17 February 2006)
- Pat Evans (17 February 2006) (during a fight with Pat)
- Pat Evans (20 February 2006)
- Agatha (14 March 2024)
Total: 5
Individual characters slapped: 3
Total slaps: 5
Background information[]
- A special two-hander episode aired between Yolande and Patrick on 7 May 2024 regarding Yolande being sexually assaulted by Pastor Clayton. The episode contained emotional scenes with the two of them coming to a conclusion on how to deal with the ordeal.