Princess Anna Murat
(1841-1924)

Anna Murat, sister of Joachim, 4th Prince Murat, was a favourite lady-in-waiting of the Empress. On 19 December 1865 she married Antoine de Noailles, duc de Mouchy.

According to her obituary in the Times (10 September 1924): ‘Anna, Duchesse douarière de Mouchy, died suddenly on Sunday night at 44, Avenue d’Iéna.

‘The Duchess douarière de Mouchy was born on February 3, 1841, the daughter of Lucien Murat, Prince de Naples et de Ponte Corvo, by his wife Caroline Fraser, of New York. In 1865 she married Antoine, sixth Duc de Mouchy, of the house of Noailles. As a Murat she was a cousin of Napoleon III, and through her husband she was linked with most of the great families of the ancien régime. A close friend of the Empress Eugénie, personally beautiful and gifted mentally, she was prominent at the Imperial Court in its most brilliant days. The Empire ended, she retained her ascendancy in Parisian society through her salon, which was frequented for many years by those who led in literature and in art. Her husband died in 1909, and her grandson is the present, the seventh, Duc de Mouchy.’