Which relative did Napoleon execute? A brother-in-law.

Carolina, said to resemble her brother in political astuteness, lost her husband due to her own ambitious miscalculation. Carolina's rise began at 17 with her marriage to Napoleon's officer, Joachim Murat. She soon became Grand Duchess of Berg, and Queen of Napoli.

Carolina's affluent life is reflected in the parure, or set of jewellery, shown below. This five-piece parure showcases the fine and detailed hardstone mosaic work of Laboratorio delle Pietre Dure. This workshop was established in Naples in 1737 by Charles VII, then King of Naples.

Carolina meddled in Napoleon's marriage to Josephine, and in a 1815 persuaded her husband to fight Napoleon. Murat was defeated and executed. Carolina fled to Trieste, renamed herself Countess of Lipona (an anagram of Napoli), and married another military man. In 1839 she died of the Bonaparte weakness, stomach cancer.

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