She began her career in London's demi-monde, becoming the mistress of a series of wealthy men, culminating in the naval hero Lord Nelson, and was the favourite model and muse of the portraitist George Romney.

In 1791, at the age of 26, she married Sir William Hamilton, British ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples, where she was a success at court, befriending the queen who was a sister of Marie Antoinette, and meeting Nelson.

She started to work for the Budd family in Chatham Place, Blackfriars, London, and began acting at the Drury Lane theatre in Covent Garden.

[4] Once the child (Emma Carew)[1] was born, she was removed to be raised by her great-grandmother at Hawarden for her first three years,[4] and subsequently (after a short spell in London with her mother) deposited with Mr John Blackburn, schoolmaster, and his wife in Manchester.

At Greville's request, she changed her name to "Mrs Emma Hart", dressed in modest outfits in subdued colours and eschewed a social life.

To be rid of Emma, Greville persuaded his uncle, younger brother of his mother, Sir William Hamilton, British Envoy to Naples, to take her off his hands.

[4] After about six months of living in apartments in the Palazzo Sessa with her mother (separately from Sir William) and begging Greville to come and fetch her, Emma came to understand that he had cast her off.

She was furious when she realised what Greville had planned for her,[3] but eventually started to enjoy life in Naples and responded to Sir William's intense courtship just before Christmas in 1786.

They fell in love, Sir William forgot about his plan to take her on as a temporary mistress, and Emma moved into his apartments, leaving her mother downstairs in the ground floor rooms.

[4] They were married on 6 September 1791 at St Marylebone Parish Church, then a plain small building, having returned to England for the purpose and Sir William having gained the King's consent.

Lady Hamilton became a close friend of Queen Maria Carolina, sister of Marie Antoinette and wife of Ferdinand I of Naples, and soon acquired fluency in both French and Italian.

Sharing Sir William Hamilton's enthusiasm for classical antiquities and art, she developed what she called her "Attitudes"—tableaux vivants in which she portrayed sculptures and paintings before British visitors.

As wife of the British Envoy, Emma welcomed Nelson (who had been married to Fanny Nisbet for about six years at that point) after his arrival in Naples on 10 September 1793,[4] when he came to gather reinforcements against the French.

She once again tried to persuade him to allow her daughter to come and live with them in the Palazzo Sessa as her mother Mrs Cadogan's niece, but he refused this as well as her request to make enquiries in England about suitors for the young Emma.

[19] Emma turned herself to winning over Nelson's family, nursing his 80-year-old father Edmund for 10 days at Merton, who loved her and thought of moving into the home with them, but he could not bear to leave his beloved Norfolk.

Nelson's sister-in-law Sarah (married to William), also pressed him for assistance and favours, including the payment of their son Horatio's school fees at Eton.

In April 13, Joseph Farington wrote in his diary; ...she is bold & unguarded in her manner, is grown fat, & drinks freely.After the Treaty of Amiens on 25 March 1802, Nelson was released from active service, but wanted to keep his new-found position in society by maintaining an aura of wealth, and Emma worked hard to live up to this dream.

[4] The newspapers reported on their every move, including trips to Wales to inspect Sir William's estates and a holiday to Ramsgate intended to give him some peace and quiet, looking to Emma to set fashions in dress, home decoration and even dinner party menus.

Charles Greville was the executor of the estate and he instructed her to leave 23 Piccadilly, but for the sake of respectability, she had to keep an address separate from Nelson's and so moved into 11 Clarges Street, not far away, a couple of months later.

[21][7] She was desperately lonely, preoccupied with attempting to turn Merton Place into the grand home Nelson desired,[3] suffering from several ailments and frantic for his return.

The child, a girl (reportedly named Emma), died about 6 weeks after her birth in early 1804,[22] and Horatia became ill at her home with Mrs Gibson on Titchfield Street.

This increasingly got on Emma's nerves and on on July 24, 1804 she wrote Davison: The apoticary's widdow, the Creole with Her Heart Black as Her feind-like looking face, was never destined for a Nelson, for so noble-minded a Creature.

Lord Grenville sent the codicil to Nelson's will to his solicitor with a note saying that nothing could be done; instead, the Boltons and Matchams received £10,000 each (but still left their adolescent daughters with Emma to educate), while William was awarded £100,000 to buy an estate called Trafalgar as well as £5000 for life.

[4] She was not completely without friends; her neighbours had rallied, and Sir John Perring hosted a group of influential financiers to help organise her finances and sell Merton.

In early 1813, she petitioned the prince of Wales, the government and friends, but all of her requests failed, and she was obliged to have an auction of many of her possessions, including many Nelson relics, at low prices.

[4] Emma was anxious to leave the country, but owing to the risk of arrest if she travelled on a normal ferry, she and Horatia hid from her creditors for a week before boarding a private vessel bound for Calais on 1 July 1814, with £50 in her purse.

[28] Emma was buried in Calais[3] on 21 January in public ground outside the town, with her friend Joshua Smith paying for a modest funeral at the local Catholic church.

Her grave was subsequently lost due to wartime destruction, but in 1994 a dedicated group unveiled the memorial which stands today in the Parc Richelieu in her honour.

[29][30] Lady Hamilton's death incentivized her creditors to submit an application to Robert Fulke Greville, the trustee of her annuity and the person she sought for financial assistance.

This was an unusual honour,[33][34] awarded to Lady Hamilton by the then Grand Master of the Order, Tsar Paul, in recognition of her role in the defence of the island of Malta against the French.