Lucien Charles Joseph Napoléon, Prince Français, Prince of Naples, 2nd Prince de Pontecorvo, 3rd Prince Murat (16 May 1803 – 10 April 1878) was a French politician, and the sovereign

Prince of Pontecorvo The Principality of Pontecorvo was a principality in Italy created by Napoleon after he became King of Italy in 1805. It consisted of the Italian commune of Pontecorvo, an exclave of the Papal States from 1463 within the territory of the Kingd ...

between 1812 and May 1815.

Early life

Lucien Charles Joseph Napoléon was born on 16 May 1803 in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. He was the second son of four children of

Joachim Murat Joachim Murat ( , also ; ; ; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French Army officer and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the military titles of Marshal of the ...

, the 1st

Prince Murat Prince Murat is a Nobility of the First French Empire, French princely title that traces its origin back to 1804, when Emperor Napoleon granted the rank of Nobility of the First French Empire#Princes, ''prince français'' to his brother-in-law Jo ...

, Grand Duke of Berg and

King of Naples The following is a list of rulers of the Kingdom of Naples, from its first Sicilian Vespers, separation from the Kingdom of Sicily to its merger with the same into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Kingdom of Naples (1282–1501) House of Anjou ...

, and his

Queen consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but hi ...

Caroline Bonaparte Carolina Maria Annunziata Bonaparte ( French: ''Caroline Marie Annunciata Bonaparte''; 25 March 1782 – 18 May 1839), better known as Caroline Bonaparte, was an Imperial French princess; the seventh child and third daughter of Carlo Buonaparte ...

. His siblings included Achille, 2nd Prince Murat (who married the American widow, Catherine Daingerfield Willis, a great-grandniece of President

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

), Princess Marie Letizia Murat (who married Guido Taddeo Pepoli, Marchese

Pepoli The Pepoli family was an Italian aristocratic banking family of Bologna, in northern Italy. They were lords of the city for thirteen years in the fourteenth century. A branch of the family moved to Trapani in Sicily and were granted several feu ...

, Conte di Castiglione), and Princess Louise Julie Murat (who married Giulio

Conte Conte may refer to: * Conte (literature), a literary genre * Conte (surname) * Conté, a drawing medium * Conte, Jura, town in France * Conté royal family, a fictional family in Tamora Pierce's Tortallan world * Conte, the title of Count in Italy ...

Rasponi). His maternal grandparents were

Carlo Buonaparte Carlo Maria Buonaparte (27 March 1746 – 24 February 1785), also known as Carlo Maria di Buonaparte and Charles-Marie Bonaparte, was a Corsican attorney and politician, best known as the father of Napoleon Bonaparte and grandfather of Napoleon ...

and

Letizia Ramolino Maria-Letizia Bonaparte ( Ramolino; 24 August 1750 or 1749 – 2 February 1836), commonly known as Letizia Bonaparte, was a Corsican noblewoman and the mother of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. Due to her status as the Emperor's mother, she ...

and his maternal uncles included

Joseph Bonaparte Joseph Bonaparte (born Giuseppe di Buonaparte, ; ; ; 7 January 176828 July 1844) was a French statesman, lawyer, diplomat and older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. During the Napoleonic Wars, the latter made him King of Naples (1806–1808), an ...

Napoleon I of France Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

Lucien Bonaparte Lucien Bonaparte, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano (; born Luciano Buonaparte; 21 May 1775 – 29 June 1840), was a French politician and diplomat of the French Revolution and the Consulate. He served as Minister of the Interior from 1799 to ...

Louis Bonaparte Louis Bonaparte (born Luigi Buonaparte; 2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846) was a younger brother of Napoleon, Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. He was a monarch in his own right from 1806 to 1810, ruling over the Kingdom of Holland (a French c ...

and

Jérôme Bonaparte Jérôme Bonaparte (born Girolamo Buonaparte; 15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon, Napoleon I and reigned as Jerome Napoleon I (formally Hieronymus Napoleon in German), Kingdom of Westphalia, King of Westphal ...

. His maternal aunts included

Elisa Bonaparte Maria Anna Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi Levoy ( French: ''Marie Anne Elisa Bonaparte''; 3 January 1777 – 7 August 1820), better known as Elisa Bonaparte, was an imperial French princess and sister of Napoleon Bonaparte. She was Princess of Lucca ...

and

Pauline Bonaparte Paula Maria Bonaparte Leclerc Borghese (, ; 20 October 1780 – 9 June 1825), better known as Pauline Bonaparte, was an imperial French princess, the first sovereign Duchess of Guastalla, and the princess consort of Sulmona and Rossano. She was th ...

. His paternal grandparents were Pierre Murat-Jordy, an affluent innkeeper and postmaster, and the former Jeanne Loubières.

Life in exile

Murat had to flee the Italian Peninsula after his father's execution, which had been ordered by

Ferdinand IV of Naples Ferdinand I ( Italian: ''Ferdinando I''; 12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was King of the Two Sicilies from 1816 until his death. Before that he had been, since 1759, King of Naples as Ferdinand IV and King of Sicily as Ferdinand III. He was ...

. Between 1815 and 1822 he and his older brother Prince Achille Murat received a solid education at Schloss Frohsdorf in the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

. He later went to

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, where he was pursued by the Austrian authorities, necessitating his departure to the United States where his elder brother Prince Achille Murat had already moved (becoming a naturalized citizen sometime after July 1828 and dropping his European titles). En route to America, he was shipwrecked in Spain and captured by the Spanish, compelling him to remain there for many months until his brother secured assistance from the

American President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forc ...

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American Founding Father of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He was the last Founding Father to serve as presiden ...

for his release. He finally arrived in the United States in April 1825. He traveled to

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

to meet his maternal uncle

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

(the former

King of Spain The monarchy of Spain or Spanish monarchy () is the constitutional form of government of Spain. It consists of a Hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarch who reigns as the head of state, being the highest office of the country. The Spanish ...

) and from there traveled extensively in the western part of the country, as well as Texas and California. While in the U.S., he married an American and had several children. After several years of financial difficulty, he opened a girls' boarding school with his wife. On his many travels to France, Murat sought in 1838 and 1844 the possibility to reclaim his family's right to the throne, which his elder brother had abandoned. In France he was always only allowed to stay 5 weeks at a time.

Settlement in France

He continued to live in the United States, staying in daily correspondence with his backers, until the fall of

Louis-Philippe of France Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850), nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the penultimate monarch of France, and the last French monarch to bear the title "King". He abdicated from his thron ...

in 1848. He returned to France with his wife and son and was elected a member of the

constituent assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

in the

1848 French Constituent Assembly election 1848 is historically famous for the wave of revolutions, a series of widespread struggles for more liberal governments, which broke out from Brazil to Hungary; although most failed in their immediate aims, they significantly altered the polit ...

. In 1849, he was appointed as Minister to

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. In 1852, he received the status of senator and the title of prince. Meanwhile the dignitaries of the

Grand Orient de France The Grand Orient de France (, abbr. GODF) is the oldest and largest of several Freemasonic organizations based in France and is the oldest in Continental Europe (as it was formed out of an older Grand Lodge of France in 1773, and briefly absorbe ...

, Saint-Albin Berville and Marie-Auguste Desanlis saw no other means to save obedience after the coup d'état of 2 December 1851, than to offer the title of Grand Master to Prince Murat who accepted it. He had the constitution of 1854 passed, which gave the Grand Master, elected for seven years, great powers. He created the

Civil Society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.French Masonry (1853-1854) and purchased the building at 16, rue Cadet, which became the Hôtel du Grand Orient de France. In 1861, he tried to regain the throne of Naples, and composed a manifesto to support his claim and was referred to by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' as "the fat pretender to the throne of Naples". This was not well received by his maternal first cousin

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

and Murat abandoned hopes of regaining the crown. During the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

, after the French defeat at the Siege of Metz in 1870, Murat was imprisoned with

Marshal of France Marshal of France (, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to General officer, generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished (1793–1804) ...

François Achille Bazaine François Achille Bazaine (13 February 181123 September 1888) was an officer of the French army. Rising from the ranks, during four decades of distinguished service (including 35 years on campaign) under Louis-Philippe I, Louis-Philippe and then ...

. After the fall of the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire, officially the French Empire, was the government of France from 1852 to 1870. It was established on 2 December 1852 by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, president of France under the French Second Republic, who proclaimed hi ...

, Murat moved back to United States for a short time where he resumed his business interests, including grist mills and saw mills near Evans Mills,

Jefferson County, New York Jefferson County is a county on the northern border of the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 116,721. Its county seat is Watertown. The county is named after Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United S ...

Personal life

On 18 August 1831 Murat married Caroline Georgina Fraser (1810–1879) in

Bordentown, New Jersey Bordentown is a City (New Jersey), city in Burlington County, New Jersey, Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 3,993, an increase of 69 (+1.8%) from the 2010 United ...

. Caroline, a Protestant, former

governess A governess is a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching; depending on terms of their employment, they may or ma ...

at the residence of

in Bordentown, New Jersey, was born in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

, daughter of Thomas Fraser, a Scottish emigrant to the United States and major in the

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

militia during the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

, and his wife Ann Loughton (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Smith) Fraser. Together, they lived in Bordentown for several years, and were the parents of: * Princess Caroline Laetitia Murat (1832–1902), who married Charles, Baron de Chassiron in Paris in 1850. After his death in 1871, she married John Lewis Garden (1833–1892) of Redisham Hall in London in 1871. * ''Joachim'' Joseph Napoléon Murat, 4th Prince Murat, 3rd Prince of Pontecorvo (1834–1901), a Major-General of the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

who married Malcy Louise Caroline Berthier de Wagram (1832–1884), a daughter of

Napoléon Alexandre Berthier, 2nd Prince of Wagram Napoléon Alexandre Louis Joseph Berthier, 2nd Prince of Wagram (11 September 1810, Paris10 February 1887, Paris) was a French politician and nobleman. He was the son of Louis-Alexandre Berthier, 1st Prince of Wagram, and Duchess Maria Elisabet ...

(1810–1887), at the

Tuileries Palace The Tuileries Palace (, ) was a palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the Seine, directly in the west-front of the Louvre Palace. It was the Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from Henri IV to Napoleon III, until it was b ...

in 1854. After her death in 1884, he married Lady Lydia Hervey (1841–1901) in Paris in 1894. * Princess Anne Murat (1841–1924), who married Antoine, 6th Duc de Mouchy, 6th Prince-Duc de Poix (1841–1909) in Paris in 1865. * Prince Charles Louis Napoléon ''Achille'' Murat (1847–1895), who married Princess Salomé

Dadiani The House of Dadiani ( ka, დადიანი ), later known as the House of Dadiani- Chikovani, was a Georgian family of nobles, dukes and princes, and a ruling dynasty of the western Georgian province of Mingrelia. The House of Dadiani T ...

Mingrelia Mingrelia or Samegrelo ( ka, სამეგრელო, tr ; ) is a historic province in the western part of Georgia, formerly known as Odishi. It is primarily inhabited by the Mingrelians, a subgroup of Georgians. Geography and climate Mingr ...

(1848–1913) in Paris in 1868. * Prince Louis Napoléon Murat (1851–1912), who married Eudoxia Mikhailovna Somova (1850–1924), a relative of Orest Somov, in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

in 1873. She was a widow of Prince Orbeliani. Napoléon Lucien Murat died on 10 April 1878 in Paris. His wife died shortly after him on 10 February 1879 in their Paris apartment, 80

Boulevard Malesherbes The Boulevard Malesherbes () is a boulevard in central Paris, France, running northwest between the La Madeleine, Paris, Church of the Madeleine in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement, and the Porte d'Asnières in the 17th arrond ...

, 8th arrondissement.

Descendants

Through his son

Joachim Joachim was, according to Sacred tradition, the husband of Saint Anne, the father of Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary (mother of Jesus), and the maternal grandfather of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Gospel of James, part of ...

, he was a grandfather of Joachim, 5th Prince Murat, a celebrated sportsman and race horse owner who married Marie Cécile Ney d'Elchingen, a daughter of the Prince de la Moskowa and a great-granddaughter of the Marshal

Michel Ney Michel Ney, 1st Prince de la Moskowa, 1st Duke of Elchingen (; 10 January 1769 – 7 December 1815), was a French military commander and Marshal of the Empire who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The son of ...

. In 1919, Prince Murat gave his Paris house on the rue de Monceau to President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

for his use while in Paris for the

Paris Peace Conference Agreements and declarations resulting from meetings in Paris include: Listed by name Paris Accords may refer to: * Paris Accords, the agreements reached at the end of the London and Paris Conferences in 1954 concerning the post-war status of Germ ...

. He died at the family estate, Château de Chambly in

Oise Oise ( ; ; ) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.< ...

. Through his daughter Princess Anne, he is a direct ancestor of

Archduke Carl Christian of Austria Archduchess Marie-Astrid of Austria (born Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg on 17 February 1954) is the elder daughter and eldest child of Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium. She is the wife of Archd ...

(b. 1954) and Michel, 14th Prince of Ligne (b. 1951). Through his son Prince Achille Murat, he had three grandchildren. The eldest was ''Lucien''-Charles-David-Napoléon Murat, Prince Murat (1870–1933), who married ''Marie'' Augustine de Rohan-Chabot, a daughter of Alain de Rohan-Chabot, 11th

Duke of Rohan Duke of Rohan is a title of French nobility, associated with the Breton region of Rohan, Morbihan, Rohan. Duke of Rohan House of Rohan House of Chabot House of Rohan-Chabot ''The title ''prince de Léon'' is used a courtesy title until the ...

, and Herminie de La Brousse de Verteillac. Her older sister, Marie-Joséphine de Rohan-Chabot, was the wife of Louis de Talleyrand-Périgord (grandson of

Louis de Talleyrand-Périgord Napoléon-Louis de Talleyrand-Périgord, duc de Valençay, 3rd duc de Talleyrand-Périgord (12 March 1811 – 21 March 1898) was a French aristocrat, soldier and politician. Early life He was born at Paris on 12 March 1811, the son of the general ...

and nephew of Boson de Talleyrand-Périgord). After Prince Murat's death in 1933, his widow married French writer and diplomat Count Charles de Chambrun. The remaining grandchildren were Prince Louis Napoléon Achille Charles (1878–1943), major general in the Russian Army, and Princess Antoinette Katherine (1879–1954), who married Gabrielle Johan Carlo Giuseppe Luigi Maria Nino Bortolotto Bebe. Through his youngest son, Prince Louis, he was a grandfather of two boys, the elder being Prince Eugéne Michel Napoléon Murat (1875–1906), who married a daughter of the Duke of Elchingen, with whom he had three children. Prince Eugéne died in an automobile accident while on his way to Karlsbad. The younger was Prince Michel Anne Charles Joachim Napoléon Murat (1887–1941), who married Helena MacDonald Stallo, heiress to the

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...

fortune, in 1913. Through his grandson Prince Michel, he was a great-grandfather of Princess Laure Louise Napoléone Eugénie Caroline Murat, who married Swiss-American journalist Fernand Auberjonois, parents of his great-great-grandson, actor

René Auberjonois René Marie Murat Auberjonois ( ; June 1, 1940 – December 8, 2019) was an American actor and voice actor, known for playing Odo on '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (1993–1999) and Clayton Endicott III on '' Benson'' (1980–1986). He firs ...

(1940–2019).

References

External links

* , - , -
''of the

First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

'' , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Murat, Prince Napoleon Lucien Charles 1803 births 1878 deaths 19th-century French educators French Freemasons Politicians from Milan

Lucien Lucien is a male given name. It is the French form of Luciano (disambiguation), Luciano or Latin ''Lucianus'', patronymic of Lucius. People Given name *Lucien, 3rd Prince Murat (1803–1878), French politician and Prince of Pontecorvo *Lucien ...

Napoleon Lucien Charles Murat Murat, Prince House of Bonaparte Neapolitan princes

French people of Corsican descent Pretenders French expatriates in Austria French expatriates in the United States Shipwreck survivors Foreign nationals imprisoned in Spain French people imprisoned abroad French schoolteachers French senators of the Second Empire Nobility from Milan Sons of kings Sons of dukes