BATTLE of Trafalgar naval hero Horatio Nelson treated his lover’s husband to three cases of red wine, a letter has revealed.
It is thought he paid for the 36 bottles of claret as he felt guilty over his long affair with Lady Emma Hamilton.
Admiral Lord Nelson was in a love triangle with Lady Emma and her older hubby Sir William Hamilton.
She gave birth to his illegitimate daughter in 1801.
In an 1802 letter to his wine merchant, Lord Nelson offers to pay Sir William’s bill.
He also asks for a consignment of 240 bottles of the merchant’s “best port wine” for his men.
Nelson writes: “Gentlemen, the three dozen of Claret sent here in Sir William Hamilton’s name is to be charged to me, and I have now to desire you will send me twenty dozen of your best port wine.”
The letter, from a private collector, is up for sale for £4,000 next month in Fulham, South West London.
Maritime expert Charles Miller said: “This seemingly innocuous letter requesting large amounts of claret and 240 bottles of port from his wine merchant gives us a hint at the high and exotic level of entertainment enjoyed by Nelson but organised by his mistress Emma Hamilton, in the brief interludes of his shore leave during one of the happiest yet most scandalous domestic periods of Nelson’s life.”
Nelson was shot dead aged 47 on HMS Victory while beating a French and Spanish fleet in the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar near Cadiz.
