When Grandmother Adele Mercier Caire, a fashion leader in her hometown of New Orleans, where her father owned a leading clothing store, met with the Queen of Naples, she extended her hand to shake hands. Caire, the wife of a wealthy notary, quickly perceived by the smile that flitted over the features of the ladies-in-waiting that she had been guilty of a breach of etiquette, according to a February 12, 1888, Times-Picayune report.
What could have led to this familiar embrace from Carolina Maria Annunziata Bonaparte, so much out of royal character? Well, little did the courtiers know that Mercier had spent more than $20,000 to entertain one of the Queen’s two sons when he visited New Orleans. Queen Caroline Bonaparte (1782–1839), was the younger sister of Napoleon 1 of France. She married her brother’s general, Joachim Murat, in 1800 and served as Queen of Naples during her spouse’s reign of her spouse there.
“Exccusez moi, la reine,” she said. “Je suis une sauvage de l’Amerique.” Mercier did not appear much like a savage. She was dressed in a magnificent robe of velvet, trimmed with sables. She wore a parure of the finest diamonds. The noblewomen weren’t sure what would come next. “The queen, seeing her embarrassment, instead of merely shaking hands with her visitor, threw her arms around her and embraced her tenderly.”
Not long after hosting the Queen’s son, Mme. Caire visited Europe. When she arrived in Paris, where Queen Caroline was then holding her court, she sent a message to ask when the queen would be pleased to receive her. She sent the note on a Wednesday, the day of the queen’s reception. She received a quick answer: come immediately.
The Queen turned to her ladies-in-waiting and asked to be excused after Adel’s faux pas. “This lady has brought me a message from my son, and I wish to speak with her in private,” the Queen said. “As soon as they were alone, the queen gave place to the mother, who again kissed Mme. Carie and wept a mother’s grateful tears upon the bosom of the benefactress of her son.”
The story, which originally appeared in the Philadelphia Press, was told by Mrs. M.T.D., a pretty reliable source. Mrs. M.T.D. who wrote that she “had the honor of being well and intimately acquainted with Mme. Carie for many years before her death. She took the place of my mother at my marriage in New Orleans in 1869, and died in 1876 in that city.”
Enquiring minds want to know which son the Caire’s entertained. Both of the Queen’s sons, Lucien and Achille, relocated to the United States. Achille, one of the more eccentric Bonapartes, became known as the “Prince of Tallahassee.” Independent-minded, restless, and adventuresome, he was always seeking an elusive fortune.
Achille Murat purchased a house on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans, where he practiced law. Then, in 1837, he bought a sugar plantation near Baton Rouge. The Great Panic of that year – which ushered in a five-year economic depression – coupled with his poor business judgment, ruined him. In 1838, Achille lost his Louisiana properties. He and his wife moved to a smaller plantation they named Econchatti, in what is now Jefferson County, Florida.
Lucien, the Queen’s younger son, fled Italy after his father’s execution. After going to school in Austria, he came to America in 1825. After visiting his maternal uncle Josephy Murat, the former King of Spain, in Philadelphia, he traveled extensively in the western part of the country, as well as Texas and California. While in the U.S., he married an American and had several children. He opened a girl’s boarding school with his wife, after many years of financial difficulty.
Unlike his brother, who had relinquished his European titles, Lucien attempted to reclaim his family’s right to the throne, which his elder brother had abandoned. He returned to live in France in 1848 after the fall of Louis-Phillippe of France. In 1852, he received the status of senator and the title of prince.