Lucien Murat

Lucien Murat
Prince of Pontecorvo
Reign 5 December 1812 – 25 May 1815
Predecessor Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte
Successor Principality abolished
Prince Murat
Tenure 15 April 1847 – 10 April 1878
Predecessor Prince Achille
Successor Prince Joachim
Born (1803-05-16)16 May 1803
Died 10 April 1878(1878-04-10) (aged 74)
Spouse Caroline Georgina Fraser
Issue Caroline, Baroness de Chassiron
Joachim, Prince Murat
Anne, Duchess of Mouchy
Prince Achille Murat
Prince Louis Murat
Father Joachim Murat
Mother Caroline Bonaparte

Lucien Charles Joseph Napoléon, Prince Français, Prince of Naples, 2nd Prince de Pontecorvo, 3rd Prince Murat (16 May 1803, Milan – 10 April 1878, Paris) was a French politician, and the sovereign Prince of Pontecorvo between 1812 and May 1815.[1][2]

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 18 August 1831 Murat married a Protestant, Caroline Georgina Fraser (Charleston, South Carolina, 13 April 1810 – Paris, 10 February 1879), daughter of Thomas Fraser, a Scottish emigrant to the United States and major in the Loyalist militia during the American Revolution, and his wife Ann Loughton Smith,[3] 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.

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 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 senator and the title of a prince.

In 1861 he tried one more time to regain the throne of Naples, and composed a manifesto to support his claim. This was not well received by his maternal first cousin Napoleon III of France and Murat abandoned hopes of regaining the crown.

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 10 April 1878 in Paris. His wife died shortly after him on 10 February 1879.

Children

He and his wife Caroline Georgina Fraser:

Ancestry

References

Regnal titles
Vacant
Title last held by
Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte
Prince of Pontecorvo
1812–1815
Principality abolished
French nobility
of the First French Empire
New creation Prince of Pontecorvo
As title of pretence

1815–1847
Succeeded by
Joachim Murat
Preceded by
Achille Murat
Prince Murat
1847–1878
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