Known as the most beautiful woman in Wales. She had many lovers. In Christmas 1108 Owain ap Cadwgan of Cardigan came to visit Gerald and Nesta. He so lusted after her that he, that night, attacked the castle and carried her off and had his way with her. This upset King Henry I of England, another of her lovers, so much that the incident started a war.

Nesta, the beautiful daughter of Rhys-ap-Griffith, Prince of South Wales, mistress of King Henry I, called from her adventures 'the Helen of Wales.' When Gerald married her she was, according to one authority, widow of the Constable of Cardigan; according to another Gerald was her first husband and the Constable her second. This Nesta was afterwards carried off, with two of her sons, by Owen, her cousin, who set fire to Pembroke Castle to cover his attack, Gerald escaping by a ladder. The boys were sent back, and Owen fled to Ireland; but returning afterwards, Gerald surprised and slew him in 1116. By Nesta, Gerald Fitz-Walter had three sons and one daughter.33