Murat, Lucien, 3e Prince Murat

LAWYER (FRANCE)
BORN 16 May 1803, Milano, Lombardia - DIED 10 Apr 1878, Paris
BIRTH NAME Murat, Lucien Napoleon Charles
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Père Lachaise, Rue du Repos 16 (division 39 (Murat family grave))

Joachim Murat was the second son of Joachim Murat (1767-1815), king of Naples. His mother was Caroline Bonaparte (1782-1839), Napoleon I's sister. He grew up in Naples, where the painter Claude-François Fortier (1775-1835) was his teacher. After his father was executed in 1815 he had to flee from Italy and together with his brorher Achille Murat (1801-1847) he was educated at Schloss Frohsdorf in Austria until 1822.

After he went to Venice the Austrian authorities pursued and he decided to follow his brother Achille who had emigrated to the USA. But a shipwreck near Spain led to his imprisonment in Spain for several months. His brother asked president James Monroe to interfere and he was released. In April 1825 he reached the USA. There he met his uncle Joseph Bonaparte (1768-1844) in Philadelphia and he travelled through the USA. He worked as a lawyer in New York and in 1831 he married Carolina Gergina Fraser (1810-1879).

He frequently travelled to France where he was only allowed to stay for five weeks on each visit. His wife and her sister Jane ran a boarding school in Bordentown after he apparently squandered the family fortune. After the fall of King Louis-Philippe in 1848 he returned to France and he was elected into the constituent assembly. In 1849 he was appointed as Minister to Turin and in 1852 he became a senator and received the title of prince. In 1861 he tried to reclaim the throne of Naples in a manifesto. Napoleon III didn't support him and nothing happened.

During the Franco-Prussian War he was imprisoned with François Achille Bazaine. After the fall of the empire he returned to the USA for a while to look after his business interests that included mills in Jefferson County, New York. He died in Paris in 1878 and was buried in the family grave at Père Lachaise.

Family
• Mother: Bonaparte, Carolina
• Father: Murat, Joachim, king of Naples
• Wife: Fraser, Caroline Georgina (1831-1878, Bordentown, New Jersey)
• Sister: Murat, Laetitia Josephine

Events
12/6/1848The French government threatens to arrest Louis Napoleon. He was elected into the National Assembly but the government threatened to arrest him if he would come from England to France. The government referred to the banning of the entire Bonaparte familiy, but Jules Favre wondered how this was possible since Prince Napoleon, Pierre Bonaparte and Lucien Murat had been elected before and were admitted. Louis Blanc and Pierre Joseph Proudhon supported Louis Napoleon as well. After a fake story by Lamartine that the Bonapartists had fired at the National Guard the government received more support, but two days later it became clear that Lamartine had lied. [Bonaparte, Pierre Napoleon][Favre, Jules][Napoleon III Bonaparte]

Images

The Murat family tomb at Père Lachaise, Paris.
Picture by Androom (19 Nov 2006)

 

Sources
Père Lachaise: grafschriften, Paris, 1993
• Ridley, Jasper, Napoleon III and Eugénie, Constable, London, 1979
Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (editie 1909), 1909
Lucien Murat — Wikipédia


Murchison, Charlotte

Published: 23 Feb 2024
Last update: 23 Feb 2024