The greenhouse was warm, and bees and butterflies were always fluttering about. Those tropical plants had not grown so beautifully merely for people to admire them. Their purpose was to attract bees and butterflies, so that while gathering nectar, they would spread pollen.
Although Georgiana did not have a "support team" as formidable as Josephine's, it was still easy enough to gather information on the beauty who had just spoken with Napoleon. Her name was Chiara Robinson, and she was of British-Italian descent. She had grown up in Florence, with a lively personality and English that was not especially fluent, spoken with a strong Italian accent. Nearly every nobleman in London had fallen at the feet of this exotic beauty.
Many Britons had also come to Antwerp for Napoleon's visit. They had missed the celebratory banquet for the signing of the Treaty of Amiens, and traveling to France was rather troublesome, whereas getting to the Netherlands was much more convenient.
Chiara was not only beautiful, but had a sweet singing voice as well. She could play the flute, harp, harpsichord, and piano. Bonaparte, dressed as a wandering minstrel, had a flute in his hand merely for decoration, did he not? She taught him how to play it. In order not to "disturb" the real artists' performances, they found a secluded spot, where Georgiana, who was "helping people get vaccinated," happened to catch them.
Lady Hamilton had served as a model for painters, while Chiara was herself an artist. She had displayed artistic talent from a young age and studied painting under the Florence painter John Zoffany, who had once been commissioned by George III to paint the octagonal hall of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
The seemingly perfect Chiara had an unfortunate family. Her father had gone bankrupt and was