Duchesse de Mouchy (Anna Murat)

Overview

Anna Murat (1841-1924), daughter of Prince Lucien Murat and great-granddaughter of Joachim Murat and Caroline Bonaparte; on 18 December 1865 she married Antoine (Antonin-Just-Léon-Marie) de Noailles, 7th duc de Mouchy (1841-1909) (English Wikipedia, «Antonin-Just-Léon-Marie de Noailles»; thepeerage.com). Their children were François (1866-1900) and Sabine (1868-1881) (same sources). The Mon Journal indexes name her «Mouchy (duchesse de. née princesse Anna Murat)» (t.13) and «Mouchy (Mme Anna, duchesse de)» (t.14); the diary's «duchesse de Mouchy», «Mme de Mouchy» and «la Mouchy» are all she. Her husband: Duc de Mouchy.

Relevance to Marie

A star of the Nice winter seasons of 1873-75 whom Marie admires and envies from a distance. She lists her among the women who are «élégantes de nature» (012.0302, 20 November 1873); «La duchesse de Mouchy avait une grandissime réception aujourd'hui … Je l'envie ! la bienheureuse femme» (014.0228, 26 December 1873); she sees her at the races, concerts and the Promenade, often with the tall beauty Marie nicknames «l'Obélisque» and the count she calls «Fedus» (016.0274, 017.0324, 017.0344, 017.0377), and watches the illuminated garden of the Mouchy villa on the night of the Obélisque's engagement party (017.0335, 017.0366). In April 1874 she admires «la petite fille de Mme de Mouchy … Une Obélisque future» (018.0347): the duchess's daughter Sabine, then six (the t.3 index reads «petite-fille du duc de Mouchy», a misreading). In Paris, September 1874, the duchess recognises Marie at the races (024.0092, 024.0123); in 1879 Marie still names «Mme de Pourtalès ou Mme de Mouchy» as beauties (086.0122).

Notes

• «L'Obélisque» is indexed as «Mouchy (Mlle de), leur fille» (t.3); that cannot be right (the couple's children were born in 1866 and 1868). Her identity is open: see Obélisque.
• Duplicate files: DUCHESS_DE_MOUCHY and MME_DE_MOUCHY are to be merged into this one (decision of 2026-10-22).

References in Diary

012.0302; 014.0228; 015.0191, 015.0265, 015.0326; 016.0274; 017.0309, 017.0324, 017.0335, 017.0344, 017.0366, 017.0377, 017.0402; 018.0062, 018.0347; 019.0208; 020.0119; 024.0092, 024.0123; 029.0021; 071.0478 («les Mouchy»); 086.0122.