England's Mistress_ The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton - Kate Williams [1]
Dresses a la Nile Respectfully Dedicated to the Fashion Mongers of the Day, published anon, by W Holland, October 24, 1798, copyright © National Maritime Museum, London
Baron Nelson of the Nile ribbon, copyright © National Maritime Museum, London
Six patch boxes and anchor necklace, copyright © National Maritime Museum, London
Three gold vinaigrettes, copyright © National Maritime Museum, London
Merton Place, Surrey, copyright © The Nelson Museum, Monmouth
Horatia Nelson, after Henry Bone, c. 1806, copyright © National Maritime Museum, London
Silk picture in a frame, embroidery by Emma Hamilton, copyright © National Maritime Museum, London
The Death of Admiral Lord Nelson—in the Moment of Victory, by James Gillray published by Hannah Humphrey, December 29, 1805, copyright © National Maritime Museum, London Moral Maxims from the Wisdom of Jesus, book inscribed by Emma Hamilton in 1809, copyright © Sotheby's, London
Lady Hamilton at Prayer, by George Romney c. 1782-86, copyright © English Heritage Photo Library/Kenwood: Iveagh Bequest
Kings Bench Prison in London, depicted by Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Charles Pugin, aquatinted by Joseph Constantine Stadler, published by Rudolph Ackermann on December 1, 1808, copyright © National Portrait Gallery, London
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Prologue
Battle to Escape
1. Harsh Beginnings
2. Liquor and Honey
3. Growing Up Poor
4. Scrubbing the Stairs
5. Traveling to London
6. The School of Corruption
7. Temptations to Voluptuousness
8. Powder and Paint
9. The Square of Venus
10. Celestial Goddess
11. Santa Carlotta's Nunnery
12. Life in the Country
13. Desperate Letters
Celebrity Mistress
14. Charles Greville's Penitent
15. London's Muse
16. Entertaining the Envoy
17. Negotiations
18. Torn by Different Passions
19. The Greatest Splendor in the World
20. Painful Truths
21. Sparing No Expense
22. Brandishing Daggers
23. Manipulating Sir William
24. Engaged for Life
25. A Difficult Part to Act
26. Loving Maria Carolina
27. A Very Extraordinary Woman
Neapolitan Nights
28. The Hero Visits
29. War Approaches
30. In Fear of Napoleon
31. The Battered Hero
32. Falling into His Arms
33. Passions in Palermo
34. Neapolitan Rebellion
35. Days of Ease and Nights of Pleasure
36. Baron Crocodile's Road Show
Scandal and Stardom
37. Cleopatra Arrives
38. Show Time
39. A Pledge of Love
40. The Prince and the Showgirl
41. Precious Jewels
42. Paradise Merton
43. Keeping Nelson
45. Nelson's Lonely Mistress
46. Money Is Trash
47. Relighting the Fire
48. Trafalgar
Backlash
49. Mistress of a Mourning Nation
50. Fashion on Credit
51. Selling Nelson's Legacy
52. The Friends of Lady Hamilton
53. Trouble with the Relations
54. Afflicting Circumstances
55. Reading the Herald
56. “A Chance I May Live”
57. Horatia Alone
Notes
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgments
PROLOGUE
Model, courtesan, dancer, fashion icon, actress, double agent, political hostess, mother, ambassadress, and hero's mistress, Emma Hamilton performed many roles in her astonishing rise from poverty to wealth and fame. None would have greater consequence for her than the part she played in Naples on July 19, 1798. She had joined the welcome party for Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson as his fleet anchored off the Bay of Naples. Nelson had come to protect Naples from the advancing French, and the Neapolitans were determined to give him a welcome fit for a hero. Rehearsals had been going on for weeks, but no one had been practicing as carefully as Emma Hamilton. Ravishingly beautiful and still only thirty-three, she realized that Nelson's arrival was a pivotal moment for her.
Her life would never be the same again.
Five years earlier, on Nelson's first visit to the city, Emma had hardly noticed the unprepossessing naval captain. By 1798, however, after his amazing success at the Battle of the Nile made him the one man who seemed able to save Europe