Why did Horatio Nelson help evacuate the Neapolitan royal family to Sicily?

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Horatio Nelson Lord Nelson, detail of an oil painting by J.F. Rigaud; in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Eng.

Horatio Nelson helped evacuate the Neapolitan royal family to Sicily because of a military crisis caused by the French invasion of Italy.12

Encouraged by Nelson, King Ferdinand had joined an alliance with Great Britain, Russia, and Austria against the French and attempted to recapture Rome. This military campaign resulted in a disastrous failure, and a French counteroffensive subsequently drove the king back to Naples. As the French forces advanced and seized the city, the royal family was forced to flee, and Nelson provided the naval support necessary to evacuate them to Palermo, Sicily.12