In the centuries that followed, “Kiss me, Hardy,” became almost apocryphal, treated as Nelson’s famous last words, even though Beatty claimed that Nelson’s final words were “Thank God, I have done my duty,” repeatedly uttered as the admiral was deep in pain. The meaning of “Kiss me, Hardy” has been hotly contested since the early 19th century, especially as Nelson became synonymous with Britain’s national identity. The naval hero still looms large in the country’s national consciousness, rendered in bronze, atop a column nearly 170 feet tall in London’s Trafalgar Square.