Prince Napoleon Lucien Charles Murat

Lucien Charles Joseph Napoléon, 3rd Prince Murat, 2nd Prince of Pontecorvo (May 16, 1803, Milan - April 10, 1878, Paris) was a French politician. He was born with the courtesy title of Prince of the Two Sicilies.

Family

He was the second son of Joachim Murat, King of Naples (1808-1815), and his Queen consort Caroline Bonaparte.

His maternal uncles included Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon I of France, Lucien Bonaparte, Louis Bonaparte and Jérôme Bonaparte. His maternal aunts included Elisa Bonaparte and Pauline Bonaparte.

Life in exile

Murat had to flee the Italian Peninsula after his father's execution, which had been ordered by Ferdinand IV of Naples. Between 1815 and 1822 he and his older brother Prince Achille Murat received a solid education at Castle Frohsdorf in the Austrian Empire. He later went to Venice, where he was pursued by the Austrian authorities, necessitating his departure to the United States.

His ship however shipwrecked in Spain and captured by the Spanish, compelling him to remain there for many months, until his brother secured assistance from President of the United States James Monroe for his release. He finally arrived in the United States in April 1825. He traveled to Philadelphia to meet his maternal uncle Joseph Bonaparte and from there traveled extensively in the western part of the country, as well as Texas and California.

On August 18, 1831 Murat married Caroline Georgina Fraser (Charleston, South Carolina, April 13, 1810 - Paris, February 10, 1879), daughter of Thomas Fraser and wife Anne Lauton, at Bordentown, New Jersey and lived several years in Bordentown, New Jersey. 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.

ettlement 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 new possibilities arose. He returned to France with his wife, and was elected a member of the constituent assembly, and in 1849 appointed as Minister for Turin. In 1852 received the status of a senators and the title of a prince.

In 1861 he tried one more time to regain the throne of Naples, and composed a manifest to this aim. It was however ill received by his maternal first cousin Napoleon III of France, and as he would not support his aim, Murat retracted.

During the Franco-Prussian War after the French defeat at the Siege of Metz (3 September - 23 October, 1870), Murat was imprisoned with Marshal of France François Achille Bazaine. After the fall of the Second French Empire, Murat moved back to United States for a short time where he had still business interests to attend to.

Napoléon Lucien Murat died on the 10 April, 1878 in Paris. His wife died shortly after him on 10 February, 1879.

Children

He and his wife Caroline Georgina Fraser:
* Princess Caroline Laetitia Murat (Bordentown, New Jersey, December 31, 1832 - Redisham Hall, July 23, 1902), m. firstly in Paris, June 6, 1850 Charles, Baron de Chassiron (Nantes, December 5, 1818 - Tarbes, June 20, 1871), and secondly in London, 1872 John Lewis Garden (1833 - London, 1892), a rich American, without issue
* "Joachim" Joseph Napoléon Murat, 4th Prince Murat, 3rd Prince of Pontecorvo (Bordentown, New Jersey, June 21, 1834 - Château de Chambly, October 23, 1901), Major-General of the French Army, married firstly at the Palais de Tuilleries, March 23, 1854 Malcy Louise Caroline Berthier de Wagram (Paris, June 22, 1832 - Paris, May 17, 1884), daughter of Napoléon Berthier de Wagram, 2nd Duc de Wagram (September 10, 1810 - February 10, 1887, son of Marshal Berthier) and wife Zénaïde Françoise Clary (Paris, November 25, 1812 - Paris, April 27, 1884, niece of Désirée Clary and Julie Clary), and had issue, and secondly in Paris, November 7, 1894 Lydia Hervey (Kemptown, Sussex, August 15, 1841 - Paris (or Château Chaâlis), September 25, 1901), without issue
* Princess Anne Murat (Bordentown, New Jersey, February 3, 1841 - Paris, September 7, 1924), m. Paris, December 18, 1865 "Antoine" Just Léon Marie, 6th Duc de Mouchy, 6th Prince-Duc de Poix (Paris, April 19, 1841 - Paris, February 2, 1909), and had issue
* Prince Charles Louis Napoléon "Achille" Murat (Bordentown, New Jersey, January 2, 1847 - Tschkaduachi, February 27, 1895), m. Paris, May 13, 1868 Princess Salome Dadiani of Mingrelia (Gordi, October 13, 1848 - Paris, July 23, 1913), and had issue
* Prince Louis Napoléon Murat (Paris, December 22, 1851 - Paris, September 22, 1912), m. Odessa, November 23, 1873 Eudoxia Mikhailovna Somova (Kharkov, February 17, 1850 - Nice, May 6, 1924), related to Orest Somov, and had issue now extinct in male line (great-grandfather of Rene Auberjonois)