England's Mistress_ The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton - Kate Williams [131]
In January, to his utter shock, Sir William read in the Morning Chronicle that he had been relieved of his post. He tried to hope that the newspaper had been mistaken, but he became increasingly worried. When Lord Grenville's letter reached him some time afterward, probably in late January, he realized despondently that his bid for security and a large payout had failed. Disoriented and feeling wounded and underappreciated by the government, Sir William planned to travel with Emma to England and then return quickly to live on the Bronte estate, with Nelson either fighting in the Mediterranean or retired. Emma worried about returning to England, where every woman wanted the hero of the Nile. As Nelson's nephew later remarked, "His warm heart eagerly strove to attach itself to some object of primary affection; if Lady Hamilton had not artfully endeavoured to inveigle it, some other female would."4 Anxious that she might lose him, she aimed to have his child.
Nelson had probably been asking for the intimacy of unprotected relations for some time. In mid-February, he had his wish. As he reminisced to her later, "I did remember well the 12th February and also the months afterwards. I shall never be sorry for the consequences," going on to discuss their child. She no doubt promised him a son to inherit his dukedom and his aptitude for leadership. But she needed to become pregnant quickly. She was nearly thirty-five, with Nelson forty-two, and couples of a similar age usually have regular intercourse for over six months or a year before they conceive.
Emma made her decision just in time. Nelson was also about to be recalled. His commanders were angered by gossip in the newspapers that they could not control him. In May, Lord Spencer commanded Nelson silkily, "You will be more likely to recover your health and strength in England than in an inactive situation at a foreign court, however pleasing the respect and gratitude shown to you for your services may be." "We are coming home; and I am miserable to leave my dearest friend, the Queen," Emma wrote to Greville on February 25. Their last months in Sicily were a turmoil of arrangements. Emma was concerned by the plight of the people of the island of Malta, south of Sicily. After Napoleon's troops had invaded and looted the island in 1798, the furious Maltese had decided to attempt to force the French troops to surrender by blockading them in the garrison. British ships arrived to surround the island and prevent the French from bringing in men or supplies. Then King Ferdinand, concerned about rising food prices in Sicily, refused to let the British take grain to the Maltese. The islanders were soon starving. When Nelson begged Ferdinand to reconsider, he promised the moon but gave nothing. Emma stepped in, sending supplies of food and inveigling £10,000 from Maria Carolina to give to the governor.5 In gratitude for her efforts, Emperor Paul I of Russia awarded her the Cross of Malta. When she received the solid gold cross, the queen took it to set it with diamonds. Emma gloated, "I am the first Englishwoman that ever had it. Sir W is pleased, so I am happy." She was a Dame of the Order of Malta, or dame petite croix. It was a title that was entirely her own (she was Emma, Lady Hamilton, rather than Lady Emma Hamilton because her title was her husband's). She used "Dame" when she was being her very grandest. Sir William tried to pretend he was merely returning to England for a well-deserved break.