A top taxpayer-funded art gallery has come under fire after labelling Lord Nelson "queer".

At Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery, two paintings showcasing the renowned British naval officer's dying moments aboard HMS Victory have been put on display.

It has long been rumoured that Lord Nelson asked his colleague and companion Captain Thomas Hardy for a kiss in his final moments - the origin of the famous "kiss me, Hardy" quote.

It is said that Captain Hardy heeded this request, kissing his dying admiral's forehead and hands.

Lord Nelson fronts the 'queer relationships' section at Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery

A top taxpayer-funded art gallery has come under fire after labelling Lord Nelson as 'queer'

Despite Lord Nelson's widely reported marriage and subsequent affairs with other women, art curators have used the story to justify putting the paintings in their gallery's “queer relationships” collection, The Telegraph revealed.

An online article about the “history of LGBTQ+ love” has added the paintings depicting Lord Nelson's final moments to its page.

Information provided by Walker Art Gallery, part of the taxpayer-funded National Museums Liverpool group, reads: “Historians have speculated about the exact nature of the relationship between Hardy and Nelson.

“Regardless of the truth, for many, Nelson’s famous request is symbolic of the sometimes hidden queer history of life at sea.

Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery has displayed two paintings showcasing Lord Nelson's final moments

“Whether or not their relationship was sexual remains unknown, but their friendship is reflective of the close relationships formed between men at sea.

“Intimate relationships, both sexual and platonic, could develop between those on board,” the online information states.

The inclusion of the two paintings is part of the National Museums Liverpool's push to showcase “often hidden or overlooked LGBTQ+ histories”.

The move has been panned by the LGB Alliance advocacy group, which has told museums to stop "queering" history.

The group's CEO Kate Barker said: “We already have enough LGB heroes from history, without pretending that straight people were gay.

“Rather than ‘queering’ people who can’t answer back, museums should be celebrating all the gay, lesbian and bisexual Britons who achieved brilliant things - despite living in eras far less tolerant than our own.”

Despite the art gallery's assertion, no evidence has ever come to light that Lord Nelson was not a straight man.

The naval officer, who led Britain to rule the waves during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, married Frances Nelson in 1787.

The naval officer led Britain to rule the waves during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Lord Nelson engaged in a affair with the married Lady Emma Hamilton, who he is alleged to have spoken about as he drew his last breaths.

After being shot by a French sniper in October 1805, he is believed to have said: “Take care of my dear Lady Hamilton, Hardy - take care of poor Lady Hamilton."

Lord Nelson’s surgeon William Beatty's account of the death noted the naval officer's final words as “thank God, I have done my duty”.

Mr Beatty added: “Thus died this matchless Hero, after performing, in a short but brilliant and well-filled life, a series of naval exploits unexampled in any age of the world.”