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 King ...

between 1812 and May 1815.

Early life

Lucien Charles Joseph Napoléon was born on 16 May 1803 in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. He was the second son of four children of

Joachim Murat Joachim Murat ( , also , ; it, Gioacchino Murati; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French military commander and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the ...

, the 1st

Prince Murat Prince Murat is a French princely title that traces its origin back to 1804, when Emperor Napoleon granted the rank of ''prince français'' to his brother-in-law Joachim Murat, who subsequently reigned as King of Naples from 1808 to 1815. On 5 D ...

Grand Duke of Berg Berg was a state—originally a county, later a duchy—in the Rhineland of Germany. Its capital was Düsseldorf. It existed as a distinct political entity from the early 12th to the 19th centuries. The name of the county lives on in the modern ...

and

King of Naples The following is a list of rulers of the Kingdom of Naples, from its first 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 In 1382, the ...

, and his Queen consort

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

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

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

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

Pepoli The Pepoli are an 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 feudal lordships and ...

, 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 or Charles-Marie Bonaparte (27 March 1746 – 24 February 1785) was a Corsican lawyer and diplomat, best known as the father of Napoleon Bonaparte and grandfather of Napoleon III. Buonaparte served briefly as a personal ...

and

Letizia Ramolino Maria-Letizia Buonaparte (née Ramolino; 24 August 1750 (or 1749) – 2 February 1836), known as Letizia Bonaparte, was a Corsican noblewoman, mother of Napoleon I of France. She became known as “” after the proclamation of the Empire. She ...

and his maternal uncles included

Joseph Bonaparte it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte , house = Bonaparte , father = Carlo Buonaparte , mother = Letizia Ramolino , birth_date = 7 January 1768 , birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic of ...

Napoleon I of France Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

Lucien Bonaparte Lucien Bonaparte, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano (born Luciano Buonaparte; 21 May 1775 – 29 June 1840), was French politician and diplomat of the French Revolution and the Consulate. He served as Minister of the Interior from 1799 to 1800 ...

Louis Bonaparte Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (born Luigi Buonaparte; 2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846) was a younger brother of 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 cl ...

and

Jérôme Bonaparte Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte (born Girolamo Buonaparte; 15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon I and reigned as Jerome Napoleon I (formally Hieronymus Napoleon in German), King of Westphalia, between 1807 and 1 ...

. His maternal aunts included

Elisa Bonaparte Maria Anna Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi Levoy (French language, 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, Napoleon Bonaparte. ...

and

Pauline Bonaparte Paula Maria Bonaparte Leclerc Borghese ( French: ''Pauline Marie Bonaparte''; 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 cons ...

. 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 (12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was the King of the Two Sicilies from 1816, after his restoration following victory in the Napoleonic Wars. Before that he had been, since 1759, Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinand ...

. Between 1815 and 1822 he and his older brother

Prince Achille Murat Charles Louis Napoleon Achille Murat (known as Achille, 21 January 1801 – 15 April 1847) was the eldest son of Joachim Murat, the brother-in-law of Napoleon who was appointed King of Naples during the First French Empire. After his father was de ...

received a solid education at

Schloss Frohsdorf Schloss Frohsdorf is a castle-like complex in Lanzenkirchen in Niederösterreich and was built 1547–50 out of the ruins of the so-called "Krotenhof". After similar devastation in the year 1683 it was largely altered and renovated in the Baroque ...

in the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

. He later went to

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, where he was pursued by the Austrian authorities, necessitating his departure to the United States where his elder brother

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 of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...

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

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

to meet his maternal uncle

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "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 mo ...

(the former

King of Spain , coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg , coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain , image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg , incumbent = Felipe VI , incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...

) 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 (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary War ...

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 The 1848 general election held on 23 and 24 April 1848 elected the Constituent Assembly of the new Republic. Over 9 million French citizens were eligible to vote in the first French election since 1792 held under male universal suffrage ...

. In 1849, he was appointed as Minister for

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) 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 ...

. 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 (GODF) is the oldest and largest of several Freemasonry, 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 ab ...

, 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

. 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'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

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

Napoleon III of France Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

and Murat abandoned hopes of regaining the crown. During the Franco-Prussian War, after the French defeat at the Siege of Metz in 1870, Murat was imprisoned with

Marshal of France Marshal of France (french: Maréchal de France, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished (1 ...

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 and then Napoleon III, he h ...

. After the fall of the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Empire, Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the French Second Republic, Second and the French Third Republic ...

, 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 Stat ...

Personal life

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

Bordentown, New Jersey Bordentown is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 3,924.Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, 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 Cro ...

militia during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, and his wife Ann Loughton (

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

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 Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

of the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

who married Malcy Louise Caroline Berthier de Wagram (1832–1884), a daughter of Napoléon Berthier de Wagram, 2nd Duc de Wagram (1810–1887), at the Palais de Tuileries 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 The ...

Mingrelia Mingrelia ( ka, სამეგრელო, tr; xmf, სამარგალო, samargalo; ab, Агырны, Agirni) is a historic province in the western part of Georgia, formerly known as Odishi. It is primarily inhabited by the Mingrelian ...

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

Orest Somov Orest Mikhailovich Somov (Russian and uk, Орест Михайлович Сомов, romanized Ukrainian standard: ''Orest Mykhailovych Somov/Somiv'') ( – ) was a Russian romantic writer of Ukrainian origin. He studied at Kharkiv Univers ...

, in

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

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, 8th arrondissement.

Descendants

Through his son

Joachim Joachim (; ''Yəhōyāqīm'', "he whom Yahweh has set up"; ; ) was, according to Christian tradition, the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Biblical apocryphal ...

, he was a grandfather of

Joachim, 5th Prince Murat Joachim Napoléon Murat, 5th Prince Murat (28 February 1856 – 2 November 1932) was a member of the Bonaparte-Murat family. Early life Joachim Napoléon Murat was born on 28 February 1856 at Boissy-Saint-Léger, Val-de-Marne, France. His pare ...

, a celebrated sportsman and race horse owner who married Marie Cécile Ney d'Elchingen, a daughter of the

Prince de la Moskowa The titles of Duke of Elchingen ( French: ''Duc d'Elchingen'') and Prince of the Moskva (''Prince de la Moskowa'') were created by Napoleon, Emperor of the French, for the Marshal of the Empire Michel Ney. Both were victory titles; Ney was created ...

and a great-granddaughter of the Marshal

Michel Ney Michel Ney, 1st Duke of Elchingen, 1st Prince of the Moskva (; 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. He was one o ...

. 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 an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

for his use while in Paris for the Paris Peace Conference. He died at the family estate, Château de Chambly in

Oise Oise ( ; ; pcd, Oése) 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 ...

. 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, and the wife of Archduke C ...

(b. 1954) and

Michel, 14th Prince of Ligne Michel de Ligne, 14th Prince de Ligne, Prince d'Épinoy, Prince d'Amblise, GE (Michel Charles Eugène Marie Lamoral; born 26 May 1951Enache, Nicolas. ''La descendance de Marie-Thérèse de Habsbourg''. ICC, Paris, 1996. pp. 46, 51, 427–429 . ( ...

(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,

Duke of Rohan Duke of Rohan is a title of French nobility, associated with the Breton region of 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 succession of the ...

. 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 Charles Guillaume Frédéric Boson de Talleyrand-Périgord (16 May 1832 – 21 February 1910), prince of Sagan (from 1845), duke of Sagan and duke of Talleyrand (from 1898) was a famous French dandy, and the grandson of Dorothea von Biron. Early ...

). 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, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...

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 Murat Auberjonois (; June 1, 1940 – December 8, 2019) was an American actor and director. He was best known for portraying Odo on '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (1993–1999). He first achieved fame as a stage actor, winning the Tony Aw ...

(1940–2019).

References

External links

* , - , -
''of the

First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eu ...

'' , - {{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 or Latin ''Lucianus'', patronymic of Lucius. Lucien, Saint Lucien, or Saint-Lucien may also refer to: People Given name * Lucien of Beauvais, Christian saint *Lucien, a band member ...

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

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