LADY EMMA HAMILTON, SIR WILLIAM, HORATIO NELSON, and NELSON'S WIFE: THE HUSBAND ACCEPTED, NELSON FLAUNTED, NELSON'S WIFE MADE A BRAVE FACE BUT WEPT

1800-1801 Like most women she was afraid of dying in childbirth.

Lady Emma Hamilton, married to a much older man, became pregnant while having an affair with married Battle of the Nile war hero Horatio Nelson. Both celebrities and considered two of the sexiest people alive at the time, they traveled hundreds of miles in an entourage that included her husband, Sir William Hamilton and her mother, called "Mrs. Cadogan," and were feted by the rich and influential as they visited the fashionable places. However, retirement in London was the destination. Emma had lived in Naples for thirteen years and her husband was at the end of his career as a diplomat. Frequently toasted and reviled in the gossip media of the time, the fashionista and influencer could not avoid the fact that her pregnancy was known and no one thought her elderly husband could be the father.

Excerpt pages 254-255 : Every time they opened a newspaper, Sir William's family, friends, and ex-colleagues were shocked to see him represented as a cuckolded, bam-boozled, out-of-touch antiquarian. They were even more scandalized by his sanguine acceptance of the situation. Sir William ignored their complaints, perhaps because he thought them too concerned about whether he would leave his money to Emma.... William's motives in forgiving the affair were complex. He owned Nelson more than $2000 for expenses by complaining in front of her lover that she gambled too much and would make herself a pauper. He was also genuinely fond of Nelson; furthermore, he knew their friendship gave him social consequence.

Society commentators found Emma's behavior bewildering, although they hardly blinked when a man kept both mistress and wife (such as the setup at Devonshire House, where the duke lived with both his wife and Bess Foster, her friend and his mistress.*) Sir William excused his wife because he loved her, valued her companionship, and welcomed not having to be her sole support.  And, as he knew, his only alternative was being alone.

As her pregnancy advanced, Emma was often ill, even vomiting in front of Fanny, Nelson's wife. Nelson had taken to being unkind to Fanny, who was humiliated. Emma endured the censure of her royal and aristocratic friends who could not be associated with scandal, whatever their more liberal leanings or affection for her were. Her husband continued to travel with them. Emma arrived in London eight months pregnant. Nelson honorably decided to separate from his wife and gave Fanny half his income, which was very good of him since men were not required to give a wife they left anything.

Born in 1765, Emma was in her mid thirties when she gave birth on January 28,1801, with a doctor, midwife, and nurse to deliver her.  She had another girl and named her Horatia.  Nelson and his wife had been childless and he was a first time father at forty-three. She had not hidden this pregnancy as she had to do with her first.  Again the cartoonists and commentators had their fun.

Missy here: Emma's story continues with the Prince of Wales but within the limits of this blog and focus on her rise to becoming Lady Hamilton, I can only highly recommend you obtain and read a copy of Kate William's wonderfully written and researched book that has been the primary reference for this month's posts. Thank you for persisting with me as we learned more about her amazing rise out of dire poverty in the late 1700's.

Amy Lyon, aka Mrs. Emma Hart, and Lady Emma Hamilton, died in 1815 at age 49.

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*The relationship is portrayed in the film The Duchess. According to Wikipedia, "The Duchess: is a 2008 historical drama film directed by Saul Dibb, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jeffery Hatcher and Anders Thomas Jenson, based on the 1998 book Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman, about the late 18th century aristocrat Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire.

THE DUCHESS : A FILM ABOUT GEORGIANA SPENCER CAVENDISH, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE : MISTRESS MANIFESTO FILM REVIEW

Based on a book I did not read by author Amanda Foreman, the film is stated to be historically correct. It features actor Ralph Fiennes, as a difficult and demanding Duke who is entitled and sexist and not much interested in his wife, other than her reproductive ability and his need for an heir, and Keira Knightley as Georgiana Spencer, a young noble woman whose mother insists she marry for prestige and money while still a teenager. She did and became the wife of William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire and mothered the 6th Duke. The real Georgiana lived from 1757 to 1806 and while her marriage was hell, she made a mark on society due to her beauty and personality, her social acumen, and her gambling habit. Blessed with charisma that just about everyone but her husband got, the Duchess decided to allow a young woman, Bess Foster, who her husband could love, into their home and so this marital arrangement sufficed, while reportedly she also had some love affairs herself. It is suggested that the young woman, a penniless mother who had left her own marriage, may have been bisexual or at least given Georgiana some lessons in how to enjoy pleasure but more likely the two women man shared. 

It was a relief for Georgianna, who comes from a different branch of the Spencer family that Lady Diana Spencer came from and seems to have been brutalized emotionally by her husband.  The scene in which the married couple come to terms with their mutual unhappiness is the only one in which the Duke seems to have some empathy. As a result, I cannot call the relationship these three people had a Love Triangle for there was no love lost for Georgiana. It's the kind of film that reinforces a woman's feminism, knowing that no one should be forced into a marriage or forced to stay in one that is this horrible.

Link to a lecture by author Amanda Forman about Georgiana on YouTube. Awfully good. Georgiana had affairs with women after realizing that her husband didn't like or love her.

Bess Foster was, according to Forman, a fake - a person who would make herself pleasing to one person at a time by studying them. Bess had an affair with both of them for about a year and during that year Georgiana finally became pregnant - as did Bess - both with the Duke's child.

YOUTUBE: AMANDA FORMAN on GEORGIANA and the DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE

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