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Stories of Love: The Ill Starred Lovers Nelson (1758-1805) and Emma Hamilton

Nelson and Emma Hamilton had a well known love affair despite both being married to others. Nelson was a famous naval commander who helped Britain defeat Napoleon. At the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson used innovative tactics to defeat the French and Spanish navies, but was fatally shot during the battle. His last words asked that Lady Hamilton and their daughter Horatia be taken care of by his country. After Nelson's death, Emma fell into bankruptcy and moved to Italy, while their daughter Horatia grew up proud of her heritage from her father.

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64 views2 pages

Stories of Love: The Ill Starred Lovers Nelson (1758-1805) and Emma Hamilton

Nelson and Emma Hamilton had a well known love affair despite both being married to others. Nelson was a famous naval commander who helped Britain defeat Napoleon. At the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson used innovative tactics to defeat the French and Spanish navies, but was fatally shot during the battle. His last words asked that Lady Hamilton and their daughter Horatia be taken care of by his country. After Nelson's death, Emma fell into bankruptcy and moved to Italy, while their daughter Horatia grew up proud of her heritage from her father.

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False Identity
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Stories of love

The ill starred lovers

Nelson (1758–1805) and Emma Hamilton

England confide that every man will do his duty (Nelson to his navy, before the Trafalgar battle)

Remember that I leave Lady Hamilton and my daughter Horatia as a legacy to my country. Never forget
Horatia. Thank God I have done my duty (Nelson’s dying words).

Emma and Nelson. A blacksmith’s daughter and a Lord. She was an upfront, boisterous beautiful
woman. He came from respectable lineage, his mother being the grand-daughter of Robert Walpole, the
first de facto Prime Minister of Great Britain. Despite a chronic seasickness, as a naval commander he
came to be acclaimed for his brilliant leadership, masterful strategy and unorthodox tactics before and
during the Napoleonic wars. He paid for his victories with the loss of an arm and the sight of an eye. Still,
the union of fair Emma and brave Nelson gave so much meaning to their life that they risked public
embarassment as an adulterous couple: Nelson was married to Fanny Nelson and had no children by her
while Emma was married to a man twice her age and had a daughter from a previous relationship. In
order to save face, the couple ‘adopted’ their own daughter, Horatia, born out of wedlock.

The relationship that brought Nelson the offspring that he missed in his marriage also brought him the
powers of full mastership when they were called for. And they were called for in the battle of Trafalgar
with Napoleon’s French and Spanish fleets. The commanders of the two navies realized that they were
due to a life and death battle. In order to win it, Nelson adopted a revolutionary strategy in those times.
Instead of the classical ship to ship attack, he let one part of his navy attack the enemy front line into full
annihilation before they could get aid. The other part was to block retreat by attacking at right angles
while the gun fire was to be carried every 80 seconds, a rate unheard of until that time.
The preparations for battle started on October 21, 1805. Nelson explained his strategy to his officers and
at daybreak came on deck of his flagship HMS Victory dressed up with all the glittering medals pinned to
his chest. The signal he planned to send to his crews was England confides that every man will do his
duty. Nevertheless, he accepted to change the word confide into expects as that would have been easier
to code. The battle was in full swing with the Brits winning when Nelson was severely wounded in the
chest. He was surveying the battle from one of the most dangerous places on ship while the glitter of his
medals made himself an easy target for snipers. He died three hours later, at peace with the news of
victory.

This victory was to win for Britain a sea-supremacy that lasted almost one century. Nelson’s plea, that
Emma and his daughter should be taken care of was not carried through. When confronted with the
news of her lover’s death, Emma became unable to utter a word for ten days. Later, she left England for
Italy and died there as a bankrupt. Her daughter returned to England, got married, had eight children
and was always proud to introduce herself as Lord Nelson’s daughter. She refrained from mentioning
her mother.

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