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By Root 1506 0

with a powerful man. He trusted Emma, for she had always been faithful to him. If she had resisted some of England's wealthiest aristocrats, why would she want a grubby, half-blind, one-armed little sailor? Eighteen months short of his eightieth birthday and doggedly hanging on to influence, he knew that if he was seen as manipulating the great naval hero, his own position at the Neapolitan court would be unassailable. He showered his new friend with compliments, hailing him as the kingdom's "Guardian Angel from the Ruin with which it has been long menaced."3 Nelson, Emma, and Sir William described themselves as the tria luneta in uno (shortened from tria coniuncta in uno, or three joined together as one). Sir William plotted for Naples, while Emma and Nelson wallowed in flirtation—and stardom. Every time Nelson went outside, he attracted a mob of tearful, grateful Neapolitans, wearing their Nelson shawls and crying, "Viva Nelson!"4 Nelson was soon intoxicated by Naples and completely obsessed with Emma.

After the party, Emma became Nelson's secretary and political facilitator. She translated from French and Italian for him, guided him around the court, and escorted him to the queen. "Lady Hamilton is an angel," he wrote to St. Vincent, describing her as "my Ambassadress to the Queen." She had been his nurse, companion, and social hostess, and now she was his assistant. When they were not working, they were confessing all to each other. Emma confided her fears about invasion and her sadness at not having children with her husband. She and Nelson had shared aims, they were no longer deeply in love with their partners, and they were both susceptible to romantic attachment. They were soon hopelessly in love with each other.

Hints about the relationship between the glamorous celebrity mistress-ambassadress and the hero of the Nile began to appear in the English newspapers. By November 1798, less than two months after his arrival in Naples, everybody was gossiping that the two biggest sex symbols of their day were having an affair. Female figures who closely resembled Emma soon began to feature on the commemorative Nelsonia—boxes, pendants, pictures, and ribbons. The phrase tria iuncta in uno began to appear in caricatures and pictures, with sly puns turning "joined" into a sexual innuendo. In lonely Roundwood, Lady Nelson stared at the gossip in the newspapers and read her husband's letters overflowing with extravagant praise for the Hamiltons and reports of glamorous balls and the adulation he had received. "Lord Hood always expressed his fear that Sir W and Lady Hamilton would use their influence to keep Lord Nelson with them: they have succeeded," she lamented.5 She laid much of the blame on Josiah, believing his truculence had finally infuriated his stepfather enough to push him into the arms of Emma and Sir William.

Fanny decided to act. First she instructed Josiah to remember he was lucky to have "such a father to bring you forward."6 Then she went to Alexander Davison. As Nelson's prize agent, financial wheeler-dealer Davison administered the money his client was awarded when he captured ships as well as attending to his wider financial and administrative affairs, and he wrote frequently to the palazzo. Fanny begged him to communicate her threat to her husband that if he did not return, she would come out to Naples.7 Davison did not offer, as she had expected, to accompany her. Europe was dangerous, and it might take her four months to reach Naples. Nelson's Admiralty superiors also refused to assist. Fanny gave in and consoled herself that going out would confirm all the rumors and only annoy her husband. She hoped that if she stayed put and kept sending regular, chatty letters, Lady Hamilton would turn out to be just another irrelevant dolly.

Nelson had little experience of royalty, so he was excited by his intimacy with Maria Carolina and his privileged entry into the gilded heart of the Neapolitan court. Here he felt appreciated, whereas the Admiralty had sidelined him for years and the government had made him