As a Liberal M.P. Charles Seely supported the unification of Italy and invited General Giuseppe Garibaldi to stay at Brooke House in 1864 when it was thought he was in danger of being mobbed by adoring crowds in London. Both Charles and Mary Seely were entranced by General Garibaldi and wrote very affectionate letters to him (see Renowned Visitors and Villagers).
The impact Garibaldi had on the populace worried Queen Victoria greatly and she was most displeased that Charles Seely did not urge Garibaldi to leave the country when she requested it.
A portrait of Garibaldi found in Brook and believed to have been painted on his visit to the Seelys at Brooke House in April 1864 is now in the Museum of Island History at The Guildhall, Newport. See link below: