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 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 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 Joa ...

, Grand Duke of Berg 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 Kin ...

, 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 ...

), 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 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, Napoleon I of France,

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 and Jérôme Bonaparte. 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. 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 I ...

. 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 (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 region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, 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 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 List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

to meet his maternal uncle Joseph (the former King of Spain) 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 in 1848. He returned to France with his wife and son and was elected a member of the constituent assembly in the 1848 French Constituent Assembly election. In 1849, he was appointed as Minister for

Turin Turin ( , 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 from 1861 to 1865. The ...

. In 1852, he received the status of senator and the title of prince. Meanwhile the dignitaries of the Grand Orient de France, 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'' (''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 d ...

'' 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 ( ...

François Achille Bazaine. After the fall of the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third Republic of France. Historians in the 1930 ...

, 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 St ...

Personal life

On 18 August 1831 Murat married Caroline Georgina Fraser (1810–1879) in Bordentown, New Jersey. Caroline, a Protestant, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, daughter of Thomas Fraser, a Scottish emigrant to the United States and major in the Loyalist 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 Revoluti ...

, and his wife Ann Loughton ( née 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 Force ...

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 Th ...

of Mingrelia (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 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, 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 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 829,41 ...

. 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 ...

(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,

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 th ...

. Her older sister, Marie-Joséphine de Rohan-Chabot, was the wife of Louis de Talleyrand-Périgord (grandson of Louis de Talleyrand-Périgord 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. Earl ...

). 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 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 (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 E ...

'' , - {{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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