Joachim, 4th Prince Murat

Joachim Joseph Napoléon Murat, 4th Prince Murat (21 June 1834 in Bordentown, New Jersey, USA – 23 October 1901 in Château de Chambly, Chambly, Oise, France) was a Major-General in the French Army and a member of the Bonaparte-Murat family.

Biography
Joachim Joseph was born at Bordertown, New Jersey, as the eldest son of Prince Napoleon Lucien Charles Murat, 2nd Prince of Pontecorvo and 3rd Prince Murat, the second son of Joachim Murat, King of Naples, who married Napoleon's sister, Caroline Bonaparte. His mother was Caroline Georgina Fraser (Charleston, South Carolina, 13 April 1810 – Paris, 10 February 1879), daughter of Thomas Fraser. He had four other siblings.

He moved to France with is family in 1848, after the fall of Louis-Philippe of France, where his father was appointed Minister, Senator and Imperial Prince.

In 1854 he married at the Tuileries Palace Malcy Louise Caroline Berthier de Wagram (Paris,22 June 1832 – Paris, 17 May 1884), daughter of Napoléon Berthier de Wagram, 2nd Duc de Wagram (10 September 1810 – 10 February 1887, son of Marshal Berthier) and wife Zénaïde Françoise Clary (Paris, 25 November 1812 – Paris, 27 April 1884, niece of Désirée Clary and Julie Clary), and had issue (two daughters and one son, the 5th Prince Murat), and secondly in Paris, 7 November 1894 Lady Lydia Hervey (Kemptown, Sussex, 15 August 1841 – Château Chaâlis, 25 September 1901), without issue.

In 1852 Joachim entered the army, becoming an officer the following year and rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1863. In 1866 he became a Colonel of a regiment of the Cavalry Guard.

In 1870 he was made Brigadier General and participated in the war against Prussia that led to the end of the Second Empire.

After the fall of Napoleon III he retired to a private life but was able to maintain the title of General and Prince. He spent the rest of his life at his family's castle in Chambly where he died in 1901.