“Lord Nelson’s love of bling may be the reason he was shot dead at the Battle of Trafalgar, a medal expert claimed yesterday.”

Whether or not Nelson’s fondness for wearing his medals made him an easier target at Trafalgar, one of those medals, the Breast Star of the Order of the Bath, is soon to be up for auction in London.   Recently we posted about a Nelson victory poster which failed to sell at auction.   The medal is expected to do much better.  The Breast Star of the Order of the Bath is expected to fetch up to £500,000.  Experts have hailed the medals as “the most important piece of Nelson memorabilia to go under the hammer more than 100 years.”

LORD NELSON’S MEDALS MADE HIM A TARGET AT TRAFALGAR

Auctioneer James Morton commented,  “Nelson liked his bling. At the beginning of his career he only had the Breast Star medal but by the time of Trafalgar he had gained several more gold medals which he wore on his jacket.

“He was warned that they could make him an easy target in combat. If he had not liked his gold so much, maybe he would not have been shot at Trafalgar, who knows?”

The silver, gold and enamel medal was awarded in 1797 following his victory at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in the Caribbean. When he died at Trafalgar in 1805 it was inherited by his brother who sent it to the hero’s friend, Admiral Sir Richard Goodwin Keats. It has stayed in the Keats family until an anonymous descendant of Sir Richard decided to get it valued.

Now it will come up for sale at Sotheby’s on October 22, the day after Trafalgar Day which celebrates the Royal Navy’s victory over the French and Spanish. Mr Morton, who valued the Star, said: “Until now it has never been seen in public. It has never been on display in any museum or even examined by experts.”

He said it has even more significance as all but one of Nelson’s other medals were stolen in 1900 and have never been found.