Charlotte Mary Hood, Baroness Bridport, 3rd Duchess of Bronte (née Nelson; 20 September 1787 – 29 January 1873) was an English aristocrat who inherited an Italian dukedom and estate between Bronte and Maniace in Sicily.
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Early life
Charlotte was born on 20 September 1787 in Hilborough, Norfolk. She was the only daughter, and only surviving child, of the Rev. William Nelson, 1st Earl Nelson, 2nd Duke of Bronte, and Sarah Yonge (a daughter of Rev. Henry Yonge). Her father was Rector of Brandon Parva and later of Hilborough, both in Norfolk, from 1814 seated at Trafalgar Park, Downton in Wiltshire and at nearby Redlynch House in Wiltshire.
Peerage
As the niece and heiress of Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, Lady Bridport succeeded, suo jure, to the title of Duchess of Bronte (of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies) upon the death of her father in 1835. While she inherited her father's Sicilian dukedom, his British titles descended by special remainder, together with his British estates, to his nephew Thomas Bolton, who assumed the surname "Nelson" in accordance with the terms of the bequest.
She also inherited the Castello di Nelson, a grand manor house built by Horatio Nelson, and its large estate between Bronte and Maniace in Sicily on the north-west foothills of Mount Etna, held by her descendants until 1982. Her father found the local inhabitants were "turbulent, restless people" troublesome to the management of the estate, and like his brother the Admiral he never set foot in it.