Way back when the U.S. was deciding what the authorities would attend like , there was some discussion about what on the button the leader of the res publica should be . Some were in favor of having a tycoon , since that was the framework most of them were used to . Others , including George Washington , pointed out that the monarchy system had n’t exactly worked out for them in the yesteryear . You ’ve probably noticed who stop up winning that statement .
Despite the United States ’ popular government , there did end up being at least one imperial member of Washington ’s family . But first , a quick history lesson :
Napoleon ’s younger baby Caroline married one of her blood brother ’s generals , Joachim Murat , who eventually became the King of Naples and Sicily ( until he was execute , that is ) . Achille Charles Louis Napoleon was their first son . When Napoleon was expatriate for the 2nd time and his family was order on house halt , a 21 - year - honest-to-god Achille fled to New York . After pass a few month in the area , he decided to see what else the country had to offer and ended up settling down in Florida .
He did his best to create his own small realm there in the swamplands – he even buy a gravid plantation and named it Parthenope after the republic he would have decree in Naples if history had taken a different twist . Another plot of land was name Lipona , an anagram of “ Napoli , ” the Italian name for Naples . Achille became such a Floridian mainstay that he was elected the city manager of Tallahassee , surely making him the only Prince to ever hold the championship .
Enter 22 - yr - old Catherine Daingerfield Willis Gray , Washington ’s great - grandniece . She had just moved to Florida with her parents following the dying of her first husband and son . She was unimpressed with the young royal stag at first – seemingly hygiene was n’t one of his biggest precedence - but Catherine ’s parents bring off to convert her that hook up with the fresh - coin mayor and exiled prince could be a pretty good financial move . In 1826 , Catherine Willis Gray became Princess Murat – the only royal in the Washington family . Though the well-chosen couple lived in the U.S. for the rest of their lives , they did enjoy a few royal fringe benefit , such as a fundament at Westminster Abbey when William IV was crowned King of England in 1830 .
