“At 3 P.M., being in sight of Palermo, his Sicilian Majesty’s Royal Standard was hoisted at the main-top gallant-mast head of the _Vanguard_, which was kept flying there till his Majesty got into the _Vanguard’s_ barge, when it was struck in the Ship and hoisted in the Barge, and every proper honour paid to it from the Ship. As soon as his Majesty set his foot on shore, it was struck from the Barge. The _Vanguard_ anchored at 2 A.M. of the 26th; at 5, I attended her Majesty and all the Princesses on shore; her Majesty being so much affected by the death of Prince Albert that she could not bear to go on shore in a public manner. At 9 A.M., his Majesty went on shore, and was received with the loudest acclamations and apparent joy.”
Alas, that one has to admit that while Lady Hamilton was the “slave” of the Sicilian Royal Family, Nelson was rapidly becoming so infatuated that the same word might be used to describe his relationship with “our dear invaluable Lady Hamilton”! He also seems to have had an exaggerated sense of the importance of the princely personages who had placed themselves under his protection. In his letters he speaks of “The good and amiable Queen,” “the great Queen,” and so on. “I am here,” he writes to Captain Ball, of the _Alexander_, dated Palermo, January 21st, 1799, “nor will the King or Queen allow me to move. I have offered to go to Naples, and have wished to go off Malta in case the Squadron from Brest should get near you, but neither one or the other can weigh with them.” To Earl Spencer he confides on the 6th March, “In Calabria the people have cut down the Tree of Liberty; but I shall never consider any part of the Kingdom of Naples safe, or even Sicily, until I hear of the Emperor’s entering Italy, when all my Ships shall go into the Bay of Naples, and I think we can make a Revolution against the French--at least, my endeavours shall not be wanting. I hope to go on the service myself, but I have my doubts if the King and Queen will consent to my leaving them for a moment.” On the 20th of the same month he tells St Vincent very much the same thing. “If the Emperor moves, I hope yet to return the Royal Family to Naples. At present, I cannot move. Would the Court but let me, I should be better, I believe; for here I am writing from morn to eve: therefore you must excuse this jumble of a letter.”