House of Bernadotte

Last updated
House of Bernadotte
Bernadotte coa.svg
Arms of Bernadotte
Country
Founded1818;206 years ago (1818)
Founder Charles XIV John
Current head Carl XVI Gustaf
Final rulerNorway: Oscar II
Titles

"By the Grace of God, King of the Swedes, the Goths and the Wends" (used until 1973)

Contents

Former titles

"By the Grace of God, King of Norway"
Estate(s)Sweden
DepositionNorway: 1905 Dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden

The House of Bernadotte [lower-alpha 1] is the royal family of Sweden, founded there in 1818 by King Charles XIV John of Sweden. It was also the royal family of Norway between 1818 and 1905. Its founder was born in Pau in southern France as Jean Bernadotte. Bernadotte, who had been made a General of Division and Minister of War for his service in the French Army during the French Revolution, and Marshal of the French Empire and Prince of Ponte Corvo under Napoleon, was adopted by the elderly King Charles XIII of Sweden, who had no other heir and whose Holstein-Gottorp branch of the House of Oldenburg thus was soon to be extinct on the Swedish throne. The current king of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, is a direct descendant of Charles XIV John.

History of the house

Following the conclusion of the Finnish War in 1809, Sweden lost possession of Finland, which had constituted roughly the eastern half of the Swedish realm for centuries. Resentment towards King Gustav IV Adolf precipitated an abrupt coup d'état . Gustav Adolf (and his son Gustav) was deposed and his uncle Charles XIII was elected King in his place. However, Charles XIII was 61 years old and prematurely senile. He was also childless; one child had been stillborn and another died after less than a week. It was apparent almost as soon as Charles XIII ascended the throne that the Swedish branch of the House of Holstein-Gottorp would die with him. In 1810 the Riksdag of the Estates, the Swedish parliament, elected a Danish prince, Prince Christian August of Augustenborg, as heir-presumptive to the throne. He took the name Charles August, but died later that same year.

At this time, Emperor Napoleon I of France controlled much of continental Europe, and some of his client states were headed by his siblings. The Riksdag decided to choose a king of whom Napoleon would approve. On 21 August 1810, the Riksdag elected Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, a Marshal of France, as heir presumptive to the Swedish throne.

Charles John, born Jean Bernadotte, King of Sweden and Norway 1818-1844 Portrait by Fredric Westin. Karl XIV Johan, king of Sweden and Norway, painted by Fredric Westin.jpg
Charles John, born Jean Bernadotte, King of Sweden and Norway 1818–1844
Portrait by Fredric Westin.

The coat of arms of the House of Bernadotte impales the coat of arms of the House of Vasa (heraldic right) and the coat of arms of Bernadotte as Prince of Pontecorvo (heraldic left). It is visible as an inescutcheon in the Greater Coat of Arms of the Realm.

When elected to be Swedish royalty the new heir had been called Prince Bernadotte according to the promotions he received from Emperor Napoleon I, culminating in sovereignty over the Principality of Pontecorvo. Some Swedish experts have asserted that all of his male heirs have had the right to use that Italian title, since the Swedish government never made payments promised Charles John to get him to give up his position in Pontecorvo. [3]

Some members of the house who lost their royal status and Swedish titles due to unapproved marriages have also been given the titles Prince Bernadotte and Count of Wisborg in the nobility of other countries.

Bernadotte

Bernadotte's arms as sovereign of Pontecorvo Coat of arms of Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte.svg
Bernadotte's arms as sovereign of Pontecorvo

Bernadotte, born in the town of Pau, in the province of Béarn, France, had risen to the rank of general during the French Revolution. In 1798, he married Désirée Clary, whose sister was married to Joseph, Napoleon's elder brother. In 1804, Napoleon promoted Bernadotte to a Marshal of France. Napoleon also granted him the title "Prince of Pontecorvo".

As the Crown Prince of Sweden, he assumed the name Charles John (Swedish : Karl Johan) and acted as regent for the remainder of Charles XIII's reign. In 1813, he broke with Napoleon and led Sweden into the anti-Napoleon alliance. When Norway was awarded to Sweden by the Treaty of Kiel, Norway resisted and declared independence, triggering a brief war between Sweden and Norway. The war ended when Bernadotte persuaded Norway to enter into a personal union with Sweden. Instead of being merely a Swedish province, Norway remained an independent kingdom, though sharing a common monarch and foreign policy. Bernadotte reigned as Charles XIV John of Sweden and Charles III John of Norway from 5 February 1818 until his death on 8 March 1844.

The House of Bernadotte reigned in both countries until the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905. Prince Carl of Denmark was then elected as King Haakon VII of Norway. Carl was a grandson of King Charles XV of Sweden and a great-great-grandson of Charles XIV.

French origins

Jeanne Bernadotte (1728-1809) (Louis Andre Fabre) - Nationalmuseum - 24994.tif
The king's mother Jeanne
John Evangelist Bernadotte c 1811.jpg
Baron J. E. Bernadotte

King Charles John's first known paternal ancestor was Joandou du Poey, who was a shepherd. He married Germaine de Bernadotte in 1615 in the southern French city of Pau and began using her surname. Through her the couple owned a building there called de Bernadotte, [4] the surname theoretically meaning Young woman of Béarn in local dialect. [5]

A grandson of theirs, Jean Bernadotte (1649–1698), was a weaver. [6]

Another Jean Bernadotte (1683–1760), his son, was a tailor. [7]

His son Henri Bernadotte (1711–1780) married Jeanne de Saint-Jean (1728–1809) and with her was the father of the future Swedish–Norwegian king. Henri was a local prosecutor, from a family of artisans, [8] who had once been imprisoned for debt. [9] [10] This was a modest family which occupied only one floor of the house in a cross street in a popular and peripheral district of Pau. [11]

Two branches of the French Bernadotte family survive. The elder descends from Andrew (André) Bernadotte, an older granduncle of Carl John's, with descendants today in the general population of France. The younger branch divided in two, one branch descending from the king's older brother John (Jean Évangéliste) Bernadotte (1754–1813), the heads of which were French barons as of 1810 with Louvie Palace [12] in the south of Pau as their seat (branch extinct with the death of Baron Henri Bernadotte in 1966), and the other branch being the Swedish Royal House. [13]

Kings of Sweden

Greater Coat of Arms of Sweden Great coat of arms of Sweden.svg
Greater Coat of Arms of Sweden

Kings of Norway

Entire royal house

This is a list only of the royal house, not of the royal whole family. It excludes in-laws and living persons (2022) who were royal, that is members of the royal house, when they were born but no longer are that today. Royalty currently alive is listed in italics. All are listed primarily as Swedish royalty unless otherwise noted.


See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Pronunciation: UK: /ˌbɜːrnəˈdɒt/ BUR-nə-DOT, US: /-ˈdɔːt,ˈbɜːrnədɒt/ -⁠DAWT, BUR-nə-dot; [1] [2] Swedish: [bæɳaˈdɔtː] .

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles XIV John</span> King of Sweden and Norway from 1818 to 1844

Charles XIV John was King of Sweden and Norway from 1818 until his death in 1844 and the first monarch of the Bernadotte dynasty. In Norway, he is known as Charles III John and before he became royalty in Sweden, his name was Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte. During the Napoleonic Wars, he participated in several battles as a Marshal of France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oscar I of Sweden</span> King of Sweden and Norway from 1844 to 1859

Oscar I was King of Sweden and Norway from 8 March 1844 until his death. He was the second monarch of the House of Bernadotte.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles XV</span> King of Sweden and Norway from 1859 to 1872

Charles XV or Carl was King of Sweden and Norway, there often referred to as Charles IV, from 8 July 1859 until his death in 1872. Charles was the third Swedish monarch from the House of Bernadotte. He was the first one to be born in Sweden, and the first to be raised from birth in the Lutheran faith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oscar II</span> King of Sweden and Norway from 1872 to 1907

Oscar II was King of Sweden from 1872 until his death in 1907 and King of Norway from 1872 to 1905.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles XIII</span> King of Sweden from 1809 to 1818

Charles XIII, or Carl XIII, was King of Sweden from 1809 and King of Norway from 1814 to his death. He was the second son of King Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, sister of Frederick the Great.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guadeloupe Fund</span>

The Guadeloupe Fund was established by Sweden's Riksdag of the Estates in 1815 for the benefit of Crown Prince and Regent Charles XIV John of Sweden, also known as Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, and his heirs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oscar Bernadotte</span> Prince Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg

Prince Oscar Carl August Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg was a Swedish religious activist, the second son of King Oscar II of Sweden and his consort, Sofia of Nassau. Born as a Prince of Sweden and Norway, he was known as Prince Oscar, Duke of Gotland. However, by marrying contrary to Swedish constitutional requirements, he lost those titles, becoming instead Luxembourgish nobility as Prince Bernadotte and Count of Wisborg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Count of Wisborg</span>

Count of Wisborg is a title granted by the monarchs of Luxembourg to some men formerly titled as princes of Sweden and their descendants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Holstein-Gottorp (Swedish line)</span>

The House of Holstein-Gottorp, a cadet branch of the Oldenburg dynasty, ruled Sweden between 1751 and 1818, and Norway from 1814 to 1818.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louise of Sweden</span> Queen of Denmark from 1906 to 1912

Louise of Sweden was Queen of Denmark from 1906 until 1912 as the spouse of King Frederick VIII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kungliga begravningsplatsen</span> Burial place of the Swedish royal family on the island of Karlsborg, Sweden

Kungliga begravningsplatsen, known in English as the Royal Cemetery, was first used in 1922 and has been the only official burial place of the Swedish royal family since 1950, succeeding Riddarholmen Church as such. It takes up all of the small island of Karlsborg in the bay of Brunnsviken. The cemetery is part of the popular Haga Park in Solna, Sweden.

Carl of Sweden may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mariana Koskull</span> Swedish lady-in-waiting and royal mistress (1785–1841)

Henrietta Mariana "Marianne" Charlotta Koskull was a Swedish noble and lady-in-waiting, known as the royal mistress of King Charles XIII of Sweden and King Charles XIV John of Sweden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gustaf VI Adolf</span> King of Sweden from 1950 to 1973

Gustaf VI Adolf was King of Sweden from 29 October 1950 until his death in 1973. He was the eldest son of Gustaf V and his wife, Victoria of Baden. Before Gustaf Adolf ascended the throne, he had been crown prince for nearly 43 years during his father's reign. As king, and shortly before his death, he gave his approval to constitutional changes which removed the Swedish monarchy's last political powers. He was a lifelong amateur archeologist particularly interested in Ancient Italian cultures.

Prince Bernadotte is a title that has been used by several members of the House of Bernadotte. It is most commonly known as a title granted to men who were formerly titled as princes of Sweden before losing their royal titles when they married unequally and against the Swedish constitution. It was created in 1892 as a non-hereditary title in the nobility of Luxembourg and conferred upon Oscar Bernadotte by Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. A title with the same name was subsequently created in 1937 as a non-hereditary title in the nobility of Belgium and conferred upon Carl Bernadotte by King Leopold III of Belgium. The wives of these princes of Luxembourgish and Belgian nobility were then granted the title of Princess Bernadotte. The title was also used in the early 19th century with reference to Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, the subsequent founder of the Swedish royal House of Bernadotte.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">François Clary</span> 18th-century French merchant

François Clary was a wealthy Irish-French merchant and is an ancestor of many European monarchs by two of his daughters. He was the father of Julie Clary, Queen of Naples and of Spain and the Indies by marriage to Joseph Bonaparte, a brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was also the father of Désirée Clary, who was first engaged to Napoleon and later became Queen of Sweden and Norway by marriage to King Charles XIV John.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince Oscar, Duke of Skåne</span> Swedish prince (born 2016)

Prince Oscar of Sweden, Duke of Skåne is the younger child and only son of Crown Princess Victoria and her husband, Prince Daniel. He is a grandson of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia and is third in the line of succession to the Swedish throne, after his mother and his sister, Princess Estelle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewels of the Swedish royal family</span> Jewels belonging to the Royal House of Sweden

The Swedish royal family owns a historic collection of jewels – some owned by the Bernadotte family foundation and others by private individuals. They are separate from the state regalia of Sweden which is owned by the Swedish state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wedding of Prince Gustaf Adolf and Princess Margaret</span> 1905 royal wedding

The wedding of Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden and Norway, Duke of Scania, and Princess Margaret of Connaught was held on Thursday, 15 June 1905, at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

References

  1. ↑ "Bernadotte". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  2. ↑ "Bernadotte, Folke" (US) and "Bernadotte, Folke". Oxford Dictionaries UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press.[ dead link ]
  3. ↑ Bramstång, Gunnar (1990). Tronrätt, bördstitel och hustillhörighet (in Swedish). p. 30.
  4. ↑ Ätten Bernadotte : biografiska anteckningar, [Andra tillökade uppl.], Johannes Almén, C. & E. Gernandts förlag, Stockholm 1893, p. 1
  5. ↑ Centuries of Selfies p- 155
  6. ↑ "Jean Bernadotte" (in French). geneanet.org.
  7. ↑ "Jean Bernadotte" (in French). geneanet.org.
  8. ↑ "Bernadotte : un général de Napoléon devenu du Roi de Suède" (in French). ndf.fr. 18 March 2011.
  9. ↑ Bulletin du Musée Bernadotte volume 3–4, Pau 1958–1959, p. 57
  10. ↑ "Le fabuleux destin de Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte : de Pau à Marseille" (in French). lefrancofil.com. 27 August 2010.
  11. ↑ "Victoria de Suède sur les pas de son aïeul" (in French). larepubliquedespyrenees.fr.
  12. ↑ "Photo du Château Louvie, à Jurançon – Côté Est" (in French). J. Callizo, photographe (1909). Archived from the original on 2016-03-12.
  13. ↑ Bulletin du Musée Bernadotte charts on ancestry
House of Bernadotte
Preceded by Ruling house of the Kingdom of Sweden
1818–present		Incumbent
Ruling house of the Kingdom of Norway
1818–1905		Succeeded by
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