Topic summary
Emma Hamilton
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Emma, Lady Hamilton.
Honours and heraldry
Emma Hamilton is generally known by the courtesy title of Lady Hamilton, to which she was entitled from 1791 as the wife and then widow of Sir William Hamilton. In 1800, she became a member of the Order of Malta. This was an unusual honour, awarded to Lady Hamilton by the then Grand Master of the Order, Paul I of Russia, in recognition of her role in the defence of the island of Malta against the French.