Louis Napoléon Murat

Prince Louis Napoléon Murat (22 December 1851 – 22 September 1912) was a French military officer and member of the House of Murat.

Murat was born on 22 December 1851 in Passy, Paris, France, the youngest child of Lucien Charles Joseph Napoléon, 3rd Prince Murat, and wife Caroline Georgina Fraser, former governess at the residence of Joseph Bonaparte in Bordentown, New Jersey. He was a grandson of Caroline Bonaparte, sister of Napoleon, and the godson of Napoléon III.^[1]

Murat began his military career in the French Navy in 1869. Following the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, he left to join the Swedish Navy. There, he was commissioned as a lieutenant and served as aide-de-camp to both Charles XV and Oscar II until his marriage in 1873.^[1]

Murat married Eudoxia Mikhailovna Somova (Kharkov, 17 February 1850 – Nice, 6 May 1924), widow of Prince Alexander Orbeliani, in Odessa in Odessa on 23 November 1873.^[2][3] They had three sons:

• Prince Eugène Louis Michel Joachim Napoléon (Brevannes, 10 January 1875 – Mitterteich, 26 July 1906), who married in Nice on 26 April 1899 Violette Jacqueline Charlotte Ney d'Elchingen (Rocquencourt, 9 September 1878 - Paris, 19 July 1936), daughter of Michel Aloys Ney, 3rd Duke of Elchingen, and died in an automobile accident in 1906.^[2] They had:
  • Prince Pierre Eugène Louis Michel Joachim Napoléon (Paria, 6 April 1900 - Rabat, 30 July 1948), married in Jouyen-Josas on 12 July 1934 Princess Isabelle Françoise Hélène Marie d'Orléans (Paris, 27 November 1900 - Louveciennes, 12 February 1983), without issue
  • Princess Paule Caroline Mathilde (Paris, 21 May 1901 - Paris, 29 May 1937), married firtsly in Paris on 28 August 1919 and divorced on 21 May 1926 Bertrand Marie Ponce François Raphaël de Faucigny-Lucinge, Prince of Lucinge (Paris, 13 December 1898 - Paris, 22 February 1943), and married secondly in Paris on 11 October 1928 and divorced in Paris on 1 July 1936 Edmond François Eugène Edmond-Blanc (Neuilly, 2 November 1904 - Neuilly, 16 June 1952)
  • Princess Caroline Rose Eugénie (Paris, 7 August 1903 - Paris, 17 November 1959), married in Paris on 27 December 1922 Henri Charles Georges David de Gheest (Paris, 15 December 1890 - 1942)
• Prince Oscar Charles Joachim (Paris, 18 January 1876 – Alexandrov, 23 December 1884), who died young.^[4]
• Prince Michel Anne Charles Joachim Napoléon (Alexandrov, 7 February 1887 – Paris, 8 June 1941), who married firstly in Paris on 5 February 1913 and divorced in Paris on 7 November 1928 Helena MacDonald Stallo (Cincinnati, Ohio, 5 September 1893 - Paris, 1 April 1932), heiress to the Standard Oil fortune, and had issue, and married secondly in Paris on 25 September 1939 Isabelle McMillin (New York City, New York, 7 September 1889 - Paris, 7 February 1952), without issue,^[3][5] and had:
  • Princess Laure Louise Napoléone Eugénie Caroline (Paris, 13 November 1913 - New York City, New York, 10 May 1986), married firstly in Cannes on 3 August 1931 and divorced in 1939 Jean-Paul Frank (Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 26 August 1905 - Los Angeles, California, 25 May 1975), and married secondly in November 1939 and divorced Fernand Auberjonois (Lausanne, 25 September 1910 - Ireland, 27 August 2004), parents of René Auberjonois

Murat died in hospital in Paris on 22 September 1912 following a surgical operation.^[1][6][7]