[citation needed] Born in Stockholm, Hamilton received his education at Uppsala University and became second lieutenant of the Svea Artillery Regiment in 1829.

From 1839 to 1844, he was secretary of the Academy of War Sciences and was chamberlain first to Crown Princess Josephine (1841–1843), then to Princes Charles and Gustaf during their studies in Uppsala in 1844–1845.

When Gustaf Sparre was appointed Prime Minister for Justice in April 1848, Hamilton took his place as lord marshal for the remainder of the Riksdag.

With sharpness and diligence, Hamilton led the conservative opposition to the government's representation proposal alongside August von Hartmansdorff [sv] in the following parliaments.

[4] In July 1861, he was appointed Swedish–Norwegian minister in Copenhagen, a difficult post given the threat of Danish-German entanglements and the divided opinion in Sweden about Swedish intervention in the conflict.

Here, too, Hamilton stood at the forefront of Charles XV's policy and found both political and moral reasons for an alliance between Sweden and Denmark.

At the Skodsborg meeting on July 22, the King promised an alliance treaty, and at the Ulriksdal conference on 8 September, in which Hamilton also participated, the government majority, under De Geer's leadership and despite the king's request for an immediate decision, strongly supported by Hamilton, decided to approve the treaty on the condition that Russia intervened to help Denmark, a condition that could be considered excluded in advance.

After his return to Sweden, he threw himself with eagerness into the preparations for the battle that would decide the fate of the De Geer representation proposal, and published Bidrag till granskningen af K.M:s nådiga proposition... ('Contributions to the examination of K.M.

During the 1865–1866 Riksdag, Hamilton's speeches were, according to De Geer himself, "full of high ideas, logical clarity and dialectical finesse".

[8] Hamilton was a gambler (particularly roulette and the card game Trente et Quarante) and addicted to morphine, and his gambling habits abroad, in particular in Germany, had resulted in a desperate need for money.

Given the potential impact of this large scandal, particularly because high-profile socialites and King Oscar II had close friendships with Hamilton, he was spared prosecution but forced to resign from all his positions and memberships in all learned societies.