Joachim-Napoléon Murat (French pronunciation: [ʒoakim napoleɔ̃ myʁa]; born Joachim Murat; Italian: Gioacchino Napoleone Murat; German: Joachim-Napoleon Murat; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a Marshal of France and Admiral of France under the reign of Napoleon. He was also the 1st Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808, and King of Naples from 1808 to 1815. He received his titles in part by being Napoleon's brother-in-law through marriage to his youngest sister, Caroline Bonaparte, as well as personal merit. He was noted as a daring, brave, and charismatic cavalry officer as well as a flamboyant dresser and was known as "the Dandy King."

Joachim Murat was born on 25 March 1767 in La Bastide-Fortunière, (renamed Labastide-Murat after its renowned citizen), in Guyenne (present-day Lot department of France) to Pierre Murat-Jordy, (d. 27 July 1799), an affluent farmer and an innkeeper, and his wife Jeanne Loubières (La Bastide Fortunière, b. 1722 – La Bastide Fortunière, d. 11 March 1806), daughter of Pierre Loubières and of his wife Jeanne Viellescazes. Pierre Murat-Jordy was the son of Guillaume Murat (1692 – 1754) and his wife Marguerite Herbeil (d. 1755); paternal grandson of Pierre Murat, born in 1634, and wife Catherine Badourès, who died in 1697; and maternal grandson of Bertrand Herbeil and wife Anne Roques.

Joachim Murat's parents intended he pursue a career in the church, and he was taught by the parish priest, after which he won a place at the College of Saint-Michel at Cahors when he was ten years old. He then entered seminary of the Lazarists at Toulouse, but when a regiment of cavalry passed through the city in 1787, he ran away from seminary and enlisted on 23 February 1787 in the Chasseurs des Ardennes, which the following year became known as the Chasseurs de Champagne, also known as the 12th Chasseurs. In 1789, an affair forced him to resign, and he returned to his family, becoming a clerk to a haberdasher at Saint-Ceré.

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