Is beauty a gift or a punishment from Heaven?
There are many beautiful women, but there are few that can be called absolutely beautiful.
When it comes to the beauty of European history, it is impossible to bypass Hamilton's Lady Emma Lyon, who is called the dream lover of all men in Europe in the 18th century, and if she ranks second in terms of beauty, no one dares to trespass on the first.
However, such a wonderful beauty ended up in a widowhood and loneliness, and her life was destined to be full of drama.
In 1941, "Mrs. Hamilton" starring Vivien Leigh swept Europe, and the prototype of this film was Emma, the first beauty in Europe, starring Vivien Leigh at that time, was already a stunning beauty, but it was rumored that her beauty was less than one percent of Emma.
It is said that the British Prime Minister Churchill was very interested in Emma, and specially watched "Mrs. Hamilton" more than thirty times, so what kind of beauty and legend did Emma have?
In the records of European history, although Emma has a unique appearance, the real life is much more tragic than in the movie.
She was neither a child of the nobility nor a child of a knight, but the daughter of an ordinary blacksmith.
In 1761, Emma was born in Cheshire, England, to put it bluntly in the suburbs of England, when she was 12 years old, her mother had to bring the sweet and lovely Emma with her because she wanted to go to London to make a living.
The so-called livelihood is actually to work as a maid in the family of the nobles, and as the daughter of the maid, Emma also suffered a lot from childhood, when the gap between rich and poor in England was huge, in addition to those noble lords, there were many bitter children like Emma.
Emma has been working non-stop since then, she has set up a stall in London, worked as a maid, and even worked as a handyman in the theater, you must know that Emma was not yet 15 years old, although there were many bitter children, but Emma was the one who attracted much attention from God.
Because of her sweet looks, Emma was mistakenly dragged into the aristocratic social place for hospitality, but the hospitality at that time was not literal, and Emma's job was not to pour wine for the jazz present, but to strip naked and dance naked at the table.
This is absurd in the present, but in 18th-century Europe, this was the daily life of the aristocracy.
So don't ask why Emma accepted the job, because that was the fate of the people at the bottom at that time, and everything was for survival.
At that time, the nobleman who "cared" for Emma was Sir Harry, an old jazz with gray hair, but although he was a gentleman in the name of jazz, he had long set his sights on the young and beautiful Emma and forced Emma to be his lover.
It was also Emma's first close encounter with the nobility, and she also began to realize that these so-called nobles had no goodness, they were selfish, conceited, and never regarded commoners as people.
For Emma, Sir Harry is actually a new picture, but Emma's virginity is taken away at will, which is very unfair to her.
Gradually Sir Harry began to snub Emma for physical reasons, but that was what Emma had hoped for, because by this time she already had a beloved.
At Sir Harry's banquet, Emma met the young and handsome General Graville, and the two of them were a perfect match, and it didn't take long for the two to live together.
Emma was at the age of the beginning of her love affair, and she also naively thought that she had met the love of her life and felt that she had found love.
On the other hand, Emma's childhood was too bitter, and meeting Greville was indeed a good home for her.
This relationship did bring Emma some good memories, but it was the past after all, as the saying goes, no one is perfect, and the young and handsome Greville owed a lot of foreign debt outside because of his good gambling.
Graville's assets are immediately stretched, when a friend of his, Harry, suddenly appears to help him pay off these debts, but this is not charity, but the premise is to "pass" Emma to him.
Harry had been salivating over Emma early on, and Emma had thought that Graville would not agree, but she did not expect that Greville turned around and sent her to Harry's house, which was the first time Emma felt that she was a plaything, a tool.
Emma was just 17 years old that year, and it didn't take long to conceive Harry's child, but interestingly, Emma's child could not be left in Harry's home, and Emma had to send the child to her grandmother in her hometown.
As for why, in fact, because of Emma's identity, the identity of her parents has determined that she will not easily become a righteous noble wife, and she can only be around the nobleman as a lover, and the children born must also be "hidden".
Although Harry only used Emma as a vase, he did not restrict her behavior, and he allowed Emma to accompany him to the banquets of European high society as his lover.
But was this really Harry's kindness?
In fact, Harry did this out of vanity, because Emma was so beautiful, what did Kanaya hide jiao, and in his opinion, putting Emma by his side for the banquet was quite a face-saving thing.
Emma's face was outstanding in high society, and few noblewomen could have such a temperament and appearance, so Emma gradually became a famous lady in the European aristocratic circle at that time, and there were more and more male "fans".
Feng Shui took turns, and after a few years, Harry's family situation also took a sharp turn, he did nothing all day, sitting on the mountain, and the family was quickly cleaned, in fact, after he "bought" Emma with a large amount of money, he could see that Harry never spent money without any obstacles.
In 1782, when Emma was 21 years old and her youth was infinite, at a banquet, she met a noble young man named Greyville, and a new chapter began in her life.
Revere is not true love to Emma, but he is really good to Emma, he does not restrict Emma's freedom, and gives her the opportunity to study to enrich her life, and more importantly, Revere changed her to a noble surname, that is, Hart.
So Emma is also called Emma Hart, of course, Grivell's good is not only this, he has spent a lot of money to find a top painter to tailor an oil painting portrait for Emma, the portrait of Emma is so pure and flawless, charming temperament, skin blown bullets can be broken.
It should be known that almost all the European high society has its own portrait, which is also a symbol of the European nobility, and Greville's painting for him is actually a disguised recognition that Emma is eligible to enter the high society as an aristocrat.
And Revere paid no attention to Emma's past, even if she danced naked at the dinner table or changed hands several times to become someone else's plaything, which did not stop Revere from giving to her.
Emma's life has changed, but her fate has not changed, and she can still only live with Greeville as a lover.
One might ask why none of these young nobles married Emma, and none of them had the impulse to love.
In fact, the European nobles are very clever and very rule-abiding, they will only intermarry with female nobles with the same or similar family background, so that they can strengthen the family, not to mention that young nobles still have to spend family money, and who to marry is not their own decision.
Like the young Greyville, who had been in love with Emma for five years, he was eventually defeated by a marriage contract from the family, and he was asked to marry a noblewoman in Edinburgh, which meant parting ways with Emma.
But Greyville was interesting, rather fat and not flowing to outsiders, and he had an uncle, that is, the British ambassador to Naples, Count William Hamilton, who had also coveted Emma for a long time.
But the only thing that was missing was that the Earl of Hamilton was a 61-year-old widower, and Emma certainly couldn't accept that fact.
After five years of love, Emma couldn't believe that Revere had given her away so easily, and was still an old man, but everything she had at that time was given to her by Revere, and there was no other way to obey her.
Arriving in Naples, Emma initially had illusions that Greville would come and pick herself up, but this was only a fantasy after all.
But as everyone knows, this is the last thing Greville did for her, the two of them have been together for five years, he knows Emma's thoughts very well, he knows what Emma needs, she needs a name, an identity that is wandering in the light of the nobility.
But this identity Greville could not give, and his 61-year-old uncle could give.
Emma became the ambassador's wife in Naples, and was also known as Madame Hamilton, when Emma was just 26 years old.
Hamilton was ecstatic to receive this beauty, as if he were twenty years younger, but he also made a request of Emma.
That is, Emma had to dress up every day, imitate the words and deeds of European noblewomen, and strictly "trained" her.
The traces of Cute Ma's performance are too obvious, but they are crooked.
Hamilton originally wanted him to become a qualified ambassador's wife, but he did not expect emma's imitation to be quite comical, coupled with Emma's angelic appearance, many Neapolitan nobles at that time would often come to Hamilton House to watch the performance.
Emma also became the most popular lady in Naples, and Once Greville had trained her, teaching her some Italian and cabaret performances, which made the aristocratic banquets in Naples come alive at once.
Only to see an angelic girl imitating a smile in the famous painting, singing and dancing at a banquet, did add a lot of color to the oppressive political environment at that time.
It is said that King Ferdinand of Naples at that time did not hesitate to condescend to hamilton to see Emma's appearance and her unique performance, Emma was famous for a while, and being a famous woman to this extent can also be said to be quite successful.
Not only that, Emma has become a fashion vane in Naples, many young girls including nobles will imitate, Emma has also gained a lot of female fans, including the Queen of Naples.
In 1793, the French Revolution broke out, the French king and queen became prisoners, Naples was also deeply under siege, the two countries actually have a layer of relationship, the French queen and the Queen of Naples are actually sisters, the sister suffered, how can the sister sit idly by.
At that time, Emma and the Queen of Naples had become girlfriends, and Emma was also very righteous, and the girlfriend was the first to step forward and use her personal relationship to go to France to rescue the French queen.
Because of the French Revolution, Emma also ushered in her own love again.
At that time, the French army had already attacked Naples, and Naples was on good terms with the British, so the British royal family sent General Nelson to fight the French army.
General Nelson had just arrived in Naples, and it was Emma, who had just rescued the queen in France, and with Emma's efforts, Naples decided to formally form a wartime alliance with Britain against the French army.
In 1798, General Nelson defeated the French Navy at the Battle of Aboukir, but he himself lost an arm and right eye, and as a hero, his welfare was that he would be carefully cared for by the ambassador's wife.
During Nelson's recuperation, Emma can be said to care for him meticulously, delivering food and feeding medicine every day, which is very ambiguous, nelson can't bear such a beautiful person to take care of himself.
In Nelson's manuscripts discovered later, he wrote several times in letters sent to his home: "The ambassador's wife is so attractive, and her care makes it difficult for me to control my admiration for her." ”
More importantly, the two people have common families, and Nelson is also from a poor family of civilians, and he has gradually reached the position of general by relying on fighting, so the two people can be said to be sympathetic to each other.
As the war raged in Europe, the French Napoleonic army once again attacked Naples, naples was bound to fall, and Hamilton returned to England with his wife Emma and General Nelson.
And Emma and Nelson's secret sending Qiu Bo along the way was also looked at by the old count, but what could be done, he was already an old dragon clock, and could only let Emma do whatever he wanted.
What is even more surprising is that in 1801, with the Earl of Hamilton alive, Emma, who returned to England, actually gave birth to a daughter for Nelson, and Nelson, who was not confused, also made a bold decision to abandon his family to live with Emma.
Because of this incident, Emma's reputation has reached the bottom, and no one in Britain does not know that Emma "seduced" a husband with a wife, and Emma suddenly fell from the top of the famous woman to a recognized slut.
In 1803, the Earl of Hamilton died, and the property fell into the hands of his nephew Grewell, and Emma had nothing, not because Emma's reputation was so bad that even her ex-boyfriend Greville was reluctant to help.
In the end, emma's relatives and friends tried their best to win a little living allowance for her.
In 1805, napoleon's army was killed in England, and General Nelson was again sent to the battlefield as commander of the royal fleet to fight Napoleon to the death in the waters of Trafagar.
The battle shattered Napoleon's illusions of conquering Great Britain, but Nelson was martyred.
Before Nelson died, he left two relics, a letter to Emma and a braid of his own hair, for Emma to remember.
In addition, Nelson's last words repeatedly stressed that if he died in battle, he hoped that the British royal family could provide a subsidy for Emma's life, which showed that Nelson had a deep sense of love for Emma.
But in the end, this last word was not fulfilled, and in the eyes of the nobles, Emma had always been an artifact, and Nelson was a "substitute ghost".
Everyone knows that Trafalgar was extremely fierce in the War, and none of the noble generals dared to fight, only Nelson had the courage to dare to confront Napoleon, so his last words were actually not concerned by the nobles, they were concerned about how to create a "hero".
Poor Emma didn't receive any allowance, and even the braids that Nelson had left for her didn't get into her hands.
Emma grew old in middle age, lost the capital to travel through high society, and was penniless, even the daughter born to Nelson regarded her as a disgrace, and eventually Emma died in loneliness.
Looking back on Emma's life, so many men have rarely been treated sincerely, and those men of aristocratic origin have regarded him as a plaything without exception, which is the sadness of the old European society.
This seemingly almost ruthless hierarchy seems to be strict, but in fact it is not shallow, and the nobles divide their resources and inadvertently harm a person's life, including Emma.
So until the 20th century, Emma was regarded as synonymous with the bad woman, and it was not until a hundred years later, when aristocratic rule was replaced by a republic, that people understood how Emma went step by step into the abyss.