Shappi Khorsandi on Emma, Lady Hamilton
Shappi Khorsandi argues there’s more to Emma Hamilton's life than merely as a seductress and mistress of Lord Nelson. Helping her make the case, historian Professor Kate Williams.
Comedian and author Shappi Khorsandi has been desperate to tell the story of Emma, Lady Hamilton as she’s quite simply one of her greatest fans. Everyone knows Emma Hamilton as simply the seducer of Admiral Horatio Nelson but according to Shappi she was more than that; history has simply palmed her off as a prostitute, a mistress, without looking at the deeper story of what she suffered and endured.
In this programme Shappi, with help from Professor Kate Williams, author of ‘England’s Mistress’, makes the case for how this woman born into poverty clawed her way up through London’s sordid underworld and became fantastically famous posing for artist George Romney. She also became an ambassador’s wife and mixed in diplomatic circles and became the confidante of both Marie Antoinette and the Queen of Naples.
Will presenter Matthew Parris be convinced and accept Emma, Lady Hamilton as a great life.
Producer, Perminder Khatkar
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Broadcasts
- Tue 2 Apr 2019 16:30BBC Radio 4
- Fri 5 Apr 2019 23:00BBC Radio 4
Podcast
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Great Lives
Biographical series in which guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.