Caroline Bonaparte | |||||
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Princess Murat Countess of Lipona |
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Caroline Murat and daughter Letizia in 1807. The painting is by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun
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Grand Duchess consort of Berg and Cleves | |||||
Tenure | 15 March 1806 – 1 August 1808 | ||||
Queen consort of Naples | |||||
Tenure | 1 August 1808 – 3 May 1815 | ||||
Born | 25 March 1782 Ajaccio, Corsica |
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Died | 18 May 1839 (aged 57) Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany |
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Spouse |
Joachim, King of Naples Francesco Macdonald |
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Issue among others... |
Achille, Crown Prince of Naples Lucien, Prince Murat |
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House | Bonaparte | ||||
Father | Carlo Buonaparte | ||||
Mother | Letizia Ramolino | ||||
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Full name | |
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Maria Annunziata Carolina Bonaparte |
Maria Annunziata Carolina (Marie Annonciade Caroline) Murat (née Bonaparte) (25 March 1782 – 18 May 1839), better known as Caroline Bonaparte, was the seventh surviving child and third surviving daughter of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino, and a younger sister of Napoleon I of France.
Caroline was born in Ajaccio, Corsica. She was a younger sister of Joseph Bonaparte, Napoléon Bonaparte, Lucien Bonaparte, Elisa Bonaparte, Louis Bonaparte and Pauline Bonaparte. She was an older sister of Jérôme Bonaparte.
In 1793, Caroline moved with her family to France during the French Revolution. There, she fell in love with Joachim Murat, one of her brother's generals, and they married on 20 January 1800. Caroline was seventeen years old. Initially, Napoleon did not wish to allow them to marry, however, his wife Joséphine de Beauharnais persuaded him to change his mind. Caroline had been a pupil at the school in St-Germain-en-Laye founded by Madame Jeanne Campan. She attended the school at the same time as Hortense, Joséphine's daughter and Caroline's brother Louis' wife.
She became Grand Duchess of Berg and Cleves on 15 March 1806 and Queen consort of Naples on 1 August 1808. She was intensely jealous of her sister-in-law Joséphine and her children, as she felt Napoleon favored them over his Bonaparte relatives. Caroline continuously plotted against Joséphine. It was Caroline who arranged for Napoleon to take a mistress, Éléonore Denuelle, who duly gave birth to his first illegitimate child. This had the desired effect of establishing that Joséphine was infertile as Napoleon showed he was clearly capable of siring children.