Hudson returned to Italy when appointed by the 1852–55 UK coalition government to the British Legation at Piedmont, specifically to promote representative democracy. He developed a close relationship with Camillo Cavour, Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, later the first Prime Minister of a united Italy, and other leading Italian liberals, Giuseppe Massari, Marco Minghetti, Bettino Ricasoli, Giovanni Morelli and Verdi, which caused Lord Malmesbury, Foreign Minister of the 1858–59 Tory administration, to describe Hudson as "more Italian than the Italians themselves", and Victoria to express her displeasure at his closeness to the Italian liberal cause. Hudson's intimate association with Italian patriots was seen as too partisan for a man in his position, however, Malmesbury understood Hudson's reluctance to act in a way that could prevent a war (between France and Austria) that could lead to unification According to Lord Cowley, British Ambassador in Paris, Cavour went further, believing Hudson to be a greater revolutionary than any Italian, had encouraged the Sardinian Government to action, and whose home was the rendezvous for disaffected liberals. The "Times" commented that although he had acted in accordance with the desires of English people, he had disregarded directions from two successive governments.