Emma, Lady Hamilton, rose from poverty to become a media celebrity, and her relationship with Admiral Nelson, and her renowned beauty, made her the most instantly-recognisable woman of her era, with the press following her every move. She was a friend of Queen Maria Carolina of Naples, longed-after by the Prince of Wales, and was a high society fashion icon. Born in 1765, Emma was the daughter of the village blacksmith in Neston, Cheshire, who died just two months later, leaving the family in difficult circumstances. After failing to find a permanent position locally, Emma took the stagecoach to London and the start of her remarkable journey to international fame. Emma worked for various actresses at Dury Lane theatre, before becoming a dancer, a model and, later, a hostess. Her beauty brought her to the attention of Charles Grenville, the second son of the Earl of Warwick, who took her as his mistress, and became the model for the painter George Romney. These paintings thrust Emma into the social spotlight and she soon became London’s top celebrity. When Grenville needed to find a rich wife, Emma was passed onto Sir William Hamilton, British Envoy to Naples. The couple fell in love and were married in September 1791. When in Naples, Lady Hamilton, as she now was, became a close friend of Queen Maria Carolina, sister of Marie Antoinette. It was also in Naples that she met Admiral Nelson – and the great love affair began. Much has been written about this later period of her life, but with Hugh Tours making full use of the letters Emma wrote as well as those she received throughout her life, the fascinating story of her early years is also revealed. This is history as moving as a great tragic novel; most moving of all, being the return, after Trafalgar, of Emma’s last letter to Nelson, unopened.

'Bewitchingly readable, authoritative' The Times 'At last, in Flora Fraser, Lady Hamilton has a biographer able to capture both the woman and her times' Amanda Foreman Born in the eighteenth century, Emma Hamilton was a woman ahead of her time. Her rise to fame and fortune seemed unstoppable – until she began her infamous love affair with Admiral Lord Nelson. Beloved Emma follows Emma Hamilton's journey from Liverpool to London and her life as an artist's assistant, through glittering successes as the wife of Sir William Hamilton in Naples, and that notorious romance with Nelson, to her painful descent from the heights of fame to an early death in Calais. Flora Fraser captures the energy, purpose and sexuality that drove this extraordinary woman through her tumultuous life.

Reproduction of the original: The Letters of Lord Nelson to Lady Hamilton by Horatio Nelson

The first publication to focus on the fashionable, ambitious, Emma Hamilton, an influential historical figure in her own right Emma Hamilton (1765–1815) rose from humble origins to national and international fame as a model, performer, trendsetter, and interpreter of neo-classical fashion, though she was probably best known as the mistress of Lord Nelson and the muse of the English portrait painter George Romney. Usually portrayed in a passive and supporting role as muse or lover, her tragic trajectory from childhood prostitution to final destitution and neglect has been used to present her story as being by turns sordid and ridiculous. This landmark publication recovers Emma Hamilton from myth and misrepresentation, and reveals her as the active and influential historical actor she truly was. The arc of this life—her ambitions, successes, and hardships–is viewed through a new lens, one that places her in a wider context of female celebrity. Accompanying a major exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, this book provides a fresh evaluation of her artistic undertakings, cultural achievements, and legacy.