The name of Lady Hamilton and her story are known to quite a few, but historians still cannot vouch for the reliability of the information. Her life has always been surrounded by legends and rumors.
Biography
The story of Lady Hamilton can be compared with the story of Cinderella. The girl has always inspired artists, writers and ordinary people. Therefore, everyone who painted her portrait or tried to tell her story slightly embellished reality.
Information about the girl’s childhood is rather contradictory. According to some reports, Emmy Lyon, as Lady Hamilton was called at birth, was born into a poor family in Chester (Cheshire, England) in 1765. Her father was a blacksmith and died quite early, so in childhood Emmy was raised mainly by her grandparents. The girl’s mother was forced to sell coal in order to have at least some livelihood.
From the age of fourteen, Emmy went to the household in London. The girl was always pretty, and it was this quality she used to settle in life. Already by 1782, the girl everywhere was followed by scandalous fame: she was noted as the lover of several men and a participant in the Scottish quack show, where some women performed naked.
The earliest portrait of Emma in the image of the goddess of health.
At sixteen, Emmy Lyon realized that she was pregnant. After giving birth, she gave her baby to her grandmother, she changed her name and became Emma Hart. Having become a cohabitant of the English young aristocrat Charles Greville, she was once introduced to Sir William Hamilton. Some historians claim that it was the young man who taught her some of the compulsory disciplines for ladies of high society: singing, drawing, literature and writing. Her education was diverse, although incomplete.
However, Charles was all in debt, because on occasion his uncle W. Hamilton persuaded him to give him a girlfriend. In return, he received financial freedom. Emma did not know anything about the agreement of the two men until a certain moment.
Emma's personal life with Lord Hamilton
This noble Londoner represented Britain in the Kingdom of Naples. Since 1786, Emma Hart lived in the home of the 56-year-old ambassador in Naples, and in 1791 they got married. This act provoked indignation among the English aristocrats. The bride at the time of the festival was 26 years old, the groom - 60.
Being the ambassador’s wife, Emma became famous for her attitudes - so she called the show, which showed "live pictures". Famous works of art were usually chosen for performances.
Spouses Hamilton.
This activity made Emma truly famous. Great artists not only admired the attitudes, but also wrote new paintings from them. Among admirers of Emma's talent were Goethe, Kaufman, Romney. Modern historians and art historians compare Lady Hamilton with Marilyn Monroe.
In Naples, Emma was introduced to the court and she became friends with Queen Maria Carolina. Women became companions, saw each other every day, and if the meeting was postponed, they wrote letters.
Queen Maria Carolina.
The last lover of Lady Hamilton was Admiral Horatio Nelson, who arrived in Naples to protect the kingdom from the French. It was a very worrying time - a revolution took place in France, and the royal family was executed. The European powers were terrified of what had happened.
It was on the talents of Nelson as a military that the Neapolitan high society counted. He was received at the court and in the houses of the nobility, including at Hamilton. Nelson himself was married, but unhappily. He especially did not hide his connection with Emma. Hamilton looked at his wife's entertainment condescendingly - the admiral was a significant figure.
The Hamiltonians and Nelson formed a kind of "triple alliance" - they lived in one big house and their meetings were daily. Emma began to take an active part in political events. With its help, messages were transmitted from the British to the Queen of Naples.
The connection between Nelson and Emma even brought the last award from the Russian Emperor Paul I - she received the Maltese Order Cross. A rare award for women went to her thanks to the patronage of her lover.
Nelson and Emma in 1801 had a daughter. The admiral bought an estate in England, where the "triple alliance" and settled, causing a wave of gossip and condemnation among the English nobility.
D. Francis. Portrait of Admiral Nelson.
In 1803, Hamilton died. He almost completely left his condition to his nephew, Emma received only a pension of 1200 pounds per year. In those days, it was a substantial amount, given the fact that the woman remained in the care of Nelson.
Nelson and Emma were finally able to legitimize the birth of their daughter - she received the name Horace Nelson-Thompson. But their family happiness was short-lived. Nelson took command of the fleet in the war with France. Battles at sea in those days were equally dangerous for ordinary sailors and for commanders. Nelson knew all this very well, but did not consider it necessary to legally formalize Emma’s position in the event of his death. He entrusted the care of his wife to his king.
Admiral Nelson died in the battle for England. He fulfilled his duty to the country, and Emma and her daughter were left without funds. Society has turned its back on a scandalous lady. Emma quickly got into debt, spent nine months in a debt prison. Later, she managed to escape to France.
In January 1815, Lady Hamilton passed away. Her daughter returned in the clothes of a boy to England and secretly lived with Nelson's relatives until her marriage.
