Who is the guy standing on the column in the middle of Trafalgar Square, staring proudly into the distance?
Well, it is Horatio Nelson of course.
The statue is an homage to him and so is the column with its bas-reliefs, the four lions, and the whole square surrounding him.
But how did he deserve such a vertiginous position?
First of all, Nelson was the man who relieved his country of the Napoleon Bonaparte nuisance, after defeating him in two subsequent great naval battles.
When he victoriously came back from the first battle, also known as "the battle of the Nile", he had already lost one eye, one arm and also some teeth.
But he never returned from the second glorious battle, "the Battle of Trafalgar" - and this is the main reason for his renown.
But Nelson was not only a war hero.
He also had a unique love affair.
And this is the love story between Horatio Nelson and Emma Hamilton.
Emma's life seems to be inspired by a gossip tabloid.
She is blacksmith 's daughter who arrives to London with her mother, a waitress, at the age of 14.
When she meets a lieutenant it does not take long when she becomes his mistress. When Emma is only 16 years old they have a son. But Emma will not see him grow up. By this time her lieutenant, has had so many debts that he has to sell Emma to a friend and her son will grow up with his grandparents instead.
Emma is beautiful and self-confident. She starts using this as a weapon.
Soon, quite famous painters start to paint portraits of her.
If she lived in our times, she would probably be a Big Brother star.
She learns the art of seduction and how to make money out of it and she starts selling herself here and there.
She meets a lot of different people this way, some of whom have a lot of power. One of them, Charles Greville, falls in love with her and decides to buy her.
Charles has an uncle, an old art collector, Sir William Hamilton, English ambassador at the Regno di Napoli, in Italy.
When Charles meets Emma he falls in love at first sight, and since his nephew was having some financial difficulties, he offered him his help in change of Emma.
So, Emma moves to Naples where she, so young and beautiful, and her old partner soon become one of the main gossip attractions.
When Nelson gloriously comes back from Akubir's battleship, Emma is among the first people who get on the "Vanguard" ship.
Her emotions are so strong at the sight of that hero, that she faints in his arms.
This is how the love story between Nelson and Emma starts.
The old William was aware of what the risks of getting married to a young girl are, and gives in.
But Nelson's wife, Fanny, cannot accept her husband affair, and tries to fight till the end, without success.
When she writes a letter to him saying "My sweet love, please come back home", he sends the letter back to her with a note: "opened by mistake".
Nelson gets completely crazy for Emma.
He writes to her 2-3 times a day things like "I love you, like nobody else before. How does it feel thinking about sleeping with you again. The only thought makes me burn, more than that will be the reality".
The doughter of this passion will be Horatia. Being already married, they cannot marry again so, they decide just to have a simple symbolic ceremony.
After some weeks Horatio gets on his ship heading to Trafalgar. He will not ever come back alive, even if he wins the battle.
Before the battle, he writes his last will : "I leave my Emma and my doughter Horatia to the cure of my loved Country. May my Britain give them all they need to survive."
Nelson was not a handsome man, but he really liked to show off all his medals and shining uniform, even during the battles.
His vanity cost him his death during the Trafalgar Battle.
A French sniper could see him from far and his shot hit Nelson straight on his spine.
Emma was not admitted to his funerals, and was completely ignored by her country and friends.
She faced really tough times till she dies in Calais, without money, alcohol addicted at the age of 50.
