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 (enskild mans dotter [approximately "daughter of a common man"]). 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.
King Charles XIV John of Sweden (also King Charles III John of Norway), who had been born in France as Jean Bernadotte, was made ruler of the Principality of Pontecorvo by Napoleon I in 1806 and was as such styled Prince Bernadotte, [1] this before he was elected as Crown Prince of Sweden in 1810. Some Swedish experts have asserted that all of his male heirs have had the right to use that title, since the Swedish government never made all of the payments promised to Charles John to get him to give up his position in the Principality of Pontecorvo. [2]
Carl Bernadotte was born as Prince of Sweden and Duke of Östergötland , but he gave up those titles when he married below his station in 1937. Carl's brother-in-law, King Leopold III of the Belgians, conferred upon him the title of Prince Bernadotte in the Belgian nobility on the day of Carl's first marriage with Countess Elsa von Rosen on 6 July 1937. It had its own coat of arms [3] and was a noble title, that is a prince as a high rank of Belgian nobility, not a royal title. [4] The title was personal to him and his wive(s), with the right to a comital title for his male-line descendants. The princely title is now extinct, with the death of Carl's third wife Princess Kristine Bernadotte in 2014. Carl had only one child, Countess Madeleine Bernadotte. [4]
In Sweden, Carl's princely Bernadotte family was considered a part of the unintroduced nobility and joined a private club called Ointroducerad Adels Förening ("The Association of the Unintroduced Nobility").
Oscar Bernadotte renounced his titles as Prince of Sweden and Duke of Gotland when he married below his station in 1888. However, he was allowed by his father, King Oscar II, to keep the courtesy title of Prince and then be styled as Prince Bernadotte. [5] The title became official as one of nobility (not just a courtesy title) [6] when he and his wife were created Prince(ss) Bernadotte (personal title for life) and Count(ess) of Wisborg (hereditary to male-line descendants) in 1892 by his maternal uncle, Grand Duke Adolphe of Luxembourg. [7] [8]
Oscar's grandnephews, Sigvard, Carl Johan and Lennart (who all had been denied use of their Swedish titles after marrying below their station), were also incorporated into the Luxembourgish nobility and herewith created hereditary Counts of Wisborg in 1951. [7] In those government documents however, which refer to Oscar's titles, they and their wives were also styled and recognized as Princes and Princesses Bernadotte, [9] with their own specific arms surmounted by the coronet for that rank. [10] That personal title remained largely out of use for them and is unlisted in Swedish government publications and genealogical handbooks, [11] [7] [12] [13] but is used intermittently in other media and publicity. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] One of their widows, Marianne Bernadotte, survives as of 2023. Her late husband announced to Swedish media in 1983 that his title was Prince Sigvard Bernadotte. That has never been recognized by his nephew, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. [24] [25] According to all six books of memoires by Sigvard, [26] Carl Johan [27] and Lennart Bernadotte, [28] two of their wives [29] and a more recent summary of these matters [30] Crown Prince (later King) Gustaf Adolf of Sweden from the 1930s on had played an integral and abiding part in the removal and denial of their Swedish titles and privileges. His granddaughter Queen Margrethe II of Denmark has commented on this, saying that he probably would have treated his sons better if their royal British mother Crown Princess Margareta had lived longer. [31]
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) by Scott Ritcher in The Local 2009-12-23Oscar II was King of Sweden from 1872 until his death in 1907 and King of Norway from 1872 to 1905.
The House of Bernadotte is the royal family of Sweden since its foundation there in 1818. It was also the royal family of Norway between 1818 and 1905. Its founder, Charles XIV John of Sweden, 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 Swedish nobility has historically been a legally and/or socially privileged class in Sweden, and part of the so-called frälse. The archaic term for nobility, frälse, also included the clergy, a classification defined by tax exemptions and representation in the diet. Today the nobility does not maintain its former legal privileges although family names, titles and coats of arms are still protected. The Swedish nobility consists of both "introduced" and "unintroduced" nobility, where the latter has not been formally "introduced" at the House of Nobility (Riddarhuset). The House of Nobility still maintains a fee for male members over the age of 18 for upkeep on pertinent buildings in Stockholm.
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.
Count of Wisborg is a title granted by the monarchs of Luxembourg to some men formerly titled as princes of Sweden and their descendants.
Prince Carl of Sweden and Norway, Duke of Västergötland was a Swedish prince. Through his daughters, for whom he arranged excellent dynastic marriages, he is an ancestor of several members of European royal houses today, including the reigning monarchs King Harald V of Norway, King Philippe of Belgium, and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg.
Carl Gustaf Oscar Fredrik Christian, Prince Bernadotte, originally Prince Carl, Duke of Östergötland, was the youngest child and only son of Prince Carl of Sweden and Princess Ingeborg of Denmark and eventually a prince of the Belgian nobility. To distinguish himself from his father, he was widely known as Carl Junior. He was the brother of Princess Margaretha of Sweden, Queen Astrid of Belgium and Crown Princess Märtha of Norway.
The Swedish royal family since 1818 has consisted of members of the Swedish Royal House of Bernadotte, closely related to the King of Sweden. Today those who are recognized by the government are entitled to royal titles and styles, and perform official engagements and ceremonial duties of state. The extended family of the King consists of other close relatives who are not royal and thus do not represent the country officially.
Lennart, Prince Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg was a Swedish-German landscaper, filmmaker, photographer and was a grandson of King Gustaf V of Sweden. He was also the eldest great-grandchild of King George I of Greece.
Sigvard Oscar Fredrik, Prince Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg born as, and until 1934 known as, Prince Sigvard of Sweden, Duke of Uppland, was a member of the Swedish Royal Family and a successful industrial designer by profession.
Carl Johan Arthur, Prince Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg, was the fourth son and fifth and youngest child of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden and his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught.
Gullan Marianne, Princess Bernadotte, Countess of Wisborg, also known as Princess Marianne Bernadotte, is a Swedish actress, fashion icon and philanthropist who in 1961 married Sigvard Bernadotte, the second son of Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden. Since the death of Gunnila Bernadotte in 2016, she is the last surviving aunt of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece. She is officially included in the Swedish royal family, and on 23 January 2022 she surpassed her late sister-in-law Princess Lilian, Duchess of Halland, as the longest-living member on record of the royal family with the age of 97 years and 192 days.
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.
The following lists events that happened during 1951 in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
The Lagergren family is a Swedish noble family which has descended from Claes Lagergren (1853–1930), a papal chamberlain and wealthy socialite who was conferred the rank of Marquess by Pope Leo XIII in 1889. A junior branch of the family is descended from one of his younger sons and holds the title of Count, which was granted by Pope Pius X in 1904. Claes Lagergren owned Tyresö Palace and rebuilt the castle inspired by original drawings from the 17th century; in his will he left the palace to the Nordic Museum.
Wendel is a Swedish noble family, forming part of the country's unintroduced nobility. Max Richard Wendel (1863–1922), Civil Engineer and Royal Spanish Consul in Gothenborg, was awarded the hereditary primogeniture title of Baron by Carlos I of Portugal in 1895. His eldest son, Carlos Harald Bruno Richard de Wendel (1901–1980), inherited the title upon his death.
The Joussineau de Tourdonnet family is a French noble family.
Tage Erland von Gerber was a Swedish landowner, captain and genealogist. He was the founder of Ointroducerad Adels Förening, the Association of the Unintroduced Nobility of Sweden, in 1911, and the editor of Sveriges ointroducerade adels kalender, the second almanach of unintroduced nobility in Sweden to be published, from 1912 to 1944. He was owner of Falla Manor in Östergötland. In 1960, he was named honorary member of Ointroducerad Adels Förening, the second person to be so honoured after Prince Carl Bernadotte.
Gunnila Märta Louise Bernadotte, Countess of Wisborg was a Swedish and Luxembourgish noblewoman.