July 8, 1859: Death of King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway.

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Carl XIV Johan, Emperor of the French, House of Bernadotte, Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, Josephine of Leuchtenberg, London Protocol of 1852, Napoleon Bonaparte, Oscar I of Sweden-Norway

Oscar I (Joseph François Oscar Bernadotte; July 4, 1799 – July 8, 1859) was King of Sweden and Norway from March 8,1844 until his death. He was the second monarch of the House of Bernadotte.

Oscar was the only child of King Carl XIV Johan, and he inherited the thrones upon the death of his father. Throughout his reign he would pursue a liberal course in politics in contrast to Carl XIV Johan, instituting reforms and improving ties between Sweden and Norway. In an address to him in 1857, the Riksdag declared that he had promoted the material prosperity of the kingdom more than any of his predecessors

Oscar was born at 291 Rue Cisalpine in Paris, France to Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, then-French Minister of War and later Marshal of the Empire and Sovereign Prince of Pontecorvo, and Désirée Clary, Napoleon Bonaparte’s former fiancée. He was named Joseph after his godfather Joseph Bonaparte, who was married to his mother’s elder sister Julie, but was also given the names François Oscar. The latter name was chosen by Napoleon after one of the heroes in the Ossian cycle of poems. Désirée is said to have chosen Napoleon to be Oscar’s godfather.

Prince of Sweden

On August 21, 1810, Oscar’s father was elected heir-presumptive to the Swedish throne by the Riksdag of the Estates, as King Carl XIII was without legitimate heirs. Two months later, on November 5, he was formally adopted by the king under the name of “Carl Johan”; Oscar was then created a Prince of Sweden with the style of Royal Highness, and further accorded the title of Duke of Södermanland. Oscar and his mother moved from Paris to Stockholm in June 1811; while Oscar soon acclimated to life at the royal court, quickly acquiring the Swedish language, Désirée had difficulty adjusting and despised the cold weather. Consequently, she left Sweden in the summer of 1811, and would not return until 1823.

Marriage

Seeking to legitimise the new Bernadotte dynasty, Carl XIV Johan had selected four princesses as candidates for marriage, in order of his priority:

Wilhelmina of Denmark, daughter of Frederik VI of Denmark and Marie Sophie of Hesse-Kassel (ultimately she married first Frederik VII of Denmark and second Karl, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg)

Josephine of Leuchtenberg, daughter of Eugene, 1st Duke of Leuchtenberg and Augusta of Bavaria, and granddaughter of the Empress Josephine.

Marie of Hesse-Cassel, daughter of Wilhelm II, Elector of Hesse and Augusta of Prussia (ultimately she married Bernard II of Saxe-Meiningen)

Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, daughter of Charles Friedrich I of Saxe-Weimar and Maria Pavlovna of Russia (ultimately she married Prince Charles of Prussia)

Oscar would eventually marry Josephine of Leuchtenberg, first by proxy at the Leuchtenberg Palace in Munich May 22, 1823 and in person at a wedding ceremony conducted in Stockholm on June 19, 1823.
The couple had five children:

King Carl XV & IV (1826–1872)

Prince Gustaf, Duke of Uppland (1827–1852)

King Oscar II (1829–1907)

Princess Eugenie (1830–1889)

Prince August, Duke of Dalarna (1831–1873)

In 1838 Carl XIV Johan began to suspect that his son was plotting with the Liberal politicians to bring about a change of ministry, or even his own abdication. If Oscar did not actively assist the Opposition on this occasion, his disapprobation of his father’s despotic behaviour was notorious, though he avoided an actual rupture. Yet his liberalism was of the most cautious and moderate character, as the Opposition—shortly after his accession to the thrones in 1844—discovered to their great chagrin.

The new king would not hear of any radical reform of the cumbersome and obsolete 1809 Instrument of Government, which made the king a near-autocrat. However, one of his earliest measures was to establish freedom of the press. He also passed the first law supporting gender equality in Sweden when he in 1845 declared that in the absence of a will specifying otherwise, brothers and sisters should have equal inheritance. Oscar I also formally established equality between his two kingdoms by introducing new flags with the common Union badge of Norway and Sweden, as well as a new coat of arms for the union.

In foreign affairs, Oscar I was a friend of the principle of nationality; in 1848 he supported Denmark against the Kingdom of Prussia in the First War of Schleswig by placing Swedish and Norwegian troops in cantonments in Funen and North Schleswig (1849–1850), and was the mediator of the Truce of Malmö (August 26, 1848). He was also one of the guarantors of the integrity of Denmark (the London Protocol, 8 May 1852).

As early as 1850, Oscar I had conceived the plan of a dynastic union of the three Scandinavian kingdoms, but such difficulties presented themselves that the scheme had to be abandoned. He succeeded, however, in reversing his father’s obsequious policy towards Imperial Russia. His fear lest Russia should demand a stretch of coast along the Varanger Fjord induced him to remain neutral during the Crimean War, and, subsequently, to conclude an alliance with Great Britain and the Second French Empire ( November 25, 1855) for preserving the territorial integrity of Sweden-Norway.

Death

In the 1850s, Oscar’s health began to rapidly deteriorate, becoming paralyzed in 1857; he died two years later at the Royal Palace in Stockholm on July 8, 1859. His eldest son, who served as Regent during his absence, succeeded him as Carl XV.

Sweden: The 1810 Act of Succession.

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Carl Philip of Sweden, Carl XIII of Sweden, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Equal Rank, House of Bernadotte, Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Kingdom of Sweden, The 1810 Act of Succession

The 1810 Act of Succession is one of four Fundamental Laws of the Realm and thus forms part of the Swedish Constitution. The Act regulates the line of succession to the Swedish Throne and the conditions which eligible members of the Swedish Royal Family must abide by in order to remain in it.

It was jointly adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates, convened in Örebro on 26 September 1810, and Carl XIII, as a logical consequence following the election on 21 August of Jean Baptiste Bernadotte as Crown Prince.

The actual contents of the Act, save the solemn preamble, has been thoroughly rewritten over the years: the most notable change occurred in 1980 when the core principle of agnatic primogeniture (male succession only) was changed in favor of absolute primogeniture (eldest child regardless of sex).

Historical background

The Act of Succession was adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates assembled at Örebro in 1810, upon electing Carl XIV Johan (Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte) as the heir to King Carl XIII. This happened at a tumultuous time for Sweden, as only one year earlier the former king, Gustaf IV Adolf (and his sons) had been deposed and replaced by his childless uncle, Carl XIII.

At the same time the Finnish War was coming to an end and Finland, then a part of Sweden proper, was held by Russia. The authoritarian constitution of 1772 was abolished and power was returned to parliament by the new Instrument of Government adopted on June 6, 1809. From 1814 to 1905 the Act of Succession also regulated succession to the Norwegian throne, due to the union of Sweden-Norway.

Provisions

The Act in the current version specifies that:

• Only children born in wedlock may inherit the Throne.
• Only the descendants of Carl XVI Gustaf may inherit the Throne.
• A prince or princess in the line of succession shall belong to and profess the “pure evangelical faith”, as defined in the Unaltered Augsburg Confession and the Uppsala Synod of 1593, i.e. by implication the Church of Sweden.
• The offspring of an approved marriage must be brought up within Sweden.
• A prince or princess may not marry and remain in the line of succession without having received consent, upon application of the Monarch, from the Government of Sweden.
• A prince or princess is also prevented from becoming monarch of another country, either by election or marriage, without the consent of the Monarch and the Government.

If any of these provisions are violated: all rights of succession for the person concerned and all descendants are lost.

Changes

In its original version, the Act mandated that a Swedish prince could only marry into families deemed to be of equal rank, or forfeit for himself and his future descendants all dynastic rights.

The key wording was a prohibition of marrying a “private man’s daughter” (Swedish: enskild mans dotter), a term which in Swedish jurisprudence was understood to exclude all non-royal persons, including the aristocracy. In 1937, the statutory provision which in effect had required a spouse of royal birth, was changed and the prohibition only extended to a “private Swedish man’s daughter” (Swedish: enskild svensk mans dotter).

A total of five Swedish princes lost their style of HRH, title as Prince of Sweden, personal Ducal title, and all rights of succession to the throne because they violated the uncompromisable constitutional provision, regardless of whether the King-in-Council did consent or not: Oscar in 1888, Lennart in 1932, Sigvard in 1934, Carl in 1937 and Carl Johan in 1946. There is since 1980 no statutory limitation, based on either nationality or royal rank, on whom a prince or princess can marry, apart from the fact that permission must be granted.

In 1980, the rule of succession was changed from agnatic primogeniture to absolute primogeniture. This change in effect created Victoria (born 1977) heir apparent, passing over her younger brother Prince Carl Philip (born 1979).

September 26: These Dates In History…

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3rd Duke of Devonshire, Carl XIII of Sweden, Carl XIV Johan of Sweden, Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, Margaret of Norway, Margaret the Maid of Norway, Stephen III of Bavaria, William Cavendish, William II of England, William Rufus

1087 – William II is crowned King of England, and reigns until 1100.

William II (c. 1056 – 2 August 1100), the third son of William the Conqueror, was King of England from September 26, 1087 until August 2, 1100, with powers over Normandy, and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales. William is commonly known as William Rufus (Rufus being Latin for “the Red”), perhaps because of his ruddy appearance or, more likely, due to having red hair as a child that grew out in later life.

1212 – The Golden Bull of Sicily is issued to confirm the hereditary royal title in Bohemia for the Přemyslid dynasty.

The Golden Bull of Sicily was a decree issued by Friedrich II, Holy Roman Emperor in Basel on September 26, 1212 that confirmed the royal title obtained by Ottokar I of Bohemia in 1198, declaring him and his heirs Kings of Bohemia. The kingship signified the exceptional status of Bohemia within the Holy Roman Empire.

1810 – A new Act of Succession is adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates, and Jean Baptiste Bernadotte becomes heir to the Swedish throne.

The 1810 Act of Succession is one of four Fundamental Laws of the Realm and thus forms part of the Swedish Constitution. The Act regulates the line of succession to the Swedish Throne and the conditions which eligible members of the Swedish Royal Family must abide by in order to remain in it.

It was jointly adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates, convened in Örebro on September 26, 1810, and Carl XIII, as a logical consequence following the election on August 21, of Jean Baptiste Bernadotte as Crown Prince.

Carl XIV Johan (born Jean Bernadotte; January 26, 1763 – March 8,1844) from 1818 until his death was King of Sweden and Norway. In modern Norwegian lists of kings he is called Carl III Johan. He was the first monarch of the Bernadotte dynasty.

Birth

1329 – Anne of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empress consort (d. 1353)

Anne of Bavaria (or of the Palatinate; September 26,1329 – February 2, 1353) was a queen consort of Bohemia and Holy Roman Empress. She was the daughter of Rudolf II, Duke of Bavaria, and Count Palatine of the Rhine, and Anna, daughter of Otto III of Carinthia. Anna was a member of the House of Wittelsbach. She married Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV on March 11, 1349 in the town of Bacharach on the Rhine. She became the second wife of Charles after the death of his first wife, Blanche of Valois, in 1348.

1462 – Engelbert, Count of Nevers.

Engelbert of Cleves, Count of Nevers (26 September 1462 – November 21, 1506) was the younger son of Johann I, Duke of Cleves and Elizabeth of Nevers, only surviving child of Johann II, Count of Nevers.

1526 – Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (d. 1569)

Count Palatine Wolfgang of Zweibrücken (September 26, 1526 – June 11, 1569) was member of the Wittelsbach family of the Counts Palatine and Duke of Zweibrücken from 1532.

1660 – Georg Wilhelm, Duke of Liegnitz (d. 1675)

Georg Wilhelm, also known as Georg IV Wilhelm; (September 26, 1660 – November 21, 1675) was the last Silesian duke of Legnica and Brzeg from 1672 until his death. He was the last male member of the Silesian Piast dynasty descending from Władysław II the Exile (1105–1159).

1698 – William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire (d. 1755)

William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire, KG, PC (September 26, 1698 – December 5, 1755) was a British nobleman and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1721 to 1729 when he inherited the Dukedom. On March 27, 1718, he married Catherine Hoskins, or Hoskyn (1700–1777), daughter of John Hoskins of Oxted (1640–1717) and Catherine Hale (1673–1703). The Duke and Duchess had seven children, including: William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire (1720 – 1764).

1870 – Christian X of Denmark (d. 1947)

Christian X (September 26, 1870 – April 20, 1947) was King of Denmark from 1912 to 1947, and the only King of Iceland between 1918 and 1944. He was a member of the House of Glücksburg and the first monarch since King Frederik VII that was born into the Danish royal family; both his father and his grandfather were born as princes of a ducal family from Schleswig. Among his siblings was King Haakon VII of Norway.

1897 – Pope Paul VI (d. 1978)

Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, Italian pronunciation: September 26, 1897 – August 6, 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from June 21, 1963 to his death in 1978. Succeeding John XXIII, he continued the Second Vatican Council which he closed in 1965, implementing its numerous reforms, and fostered improved ecumenical relations with Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches, which resulted in many historic meetings and agreements.

Death

1290 – Margaret, Maid of Norway Queen of Scotland (b. 1283)

Margaret (March/April 1283 – September 26, 1290), known as the Maid of Norway, was the queen-designate of Scotland from 1286 until her death. As she was never inaugurated, her status as monarch has been debated by historians.

Margaret was the daughter of King Eric II of Norway and Margaret of Scotland. By the end of the reign of her maternal grandfather, King Alexander III of Scotland, she was his only surviving descendant and recognized heir presumptive. Alexander III died in 1286, his posthumous child was stillborn, and Margaret inherited the crown. Owing to her young age, she remained in Norway rather than going to Scotland. Her father and the Scottish leaders negotiated her marriage to Edward of Caernarfon, son of King Edward I of England. She was finally sent to Great Britain in September 1290, but died in Orkney, sparking off the succession dispute between thirteen competitors for the crown of Scotland.

1345 – Willem II, Count of Hainaut

Willem II (1307 – September 26, 1345) was Count of Hainaut from 1337 until his death. He was also Count of Holland and Count of Zeeland. He succeeded his father, Willem I, and married Joanna of Brabant in 1334, but had no issue.

1413 – Stephen III, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1337)

Stephen III (1337 – September 26, 1413), called the Magnificent or the Fop, was the Duke of Bavaria-Ingolstadt from 1375. He was the eldest son of Stephen II and Elizabeth of Sicily. His maternal grandparents were Frederick III of Sicily and Eleanor of Anjou. Her parents were Charles II of Naples and Maria Arpad of Hungary.

1623 – Charles Grey, 7th Earl of Kent, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire (b. 1540)

Charles Grey (1540s – September 26, 1623) was Earl of Kent from 1615 to his death. Grey was a son of Henry Grey (1520–1545) and Margaret St. John. His paternal grandparents were Henry Grey, 4th Earl of Kent and Anne Blennerhassett. He was a younger brother of Reginald Grey, 5th Earl of Kent and Henry Grey, 6th Earl of Kent.

March 8, 1844: Oscar I becomes King of Sweden and Norway.

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Charles XIV John of Sweden, Charles XV of Sweden, House of Bernadotte, Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, Josephine of Leuchtenberg, King Oscar II of Sweden, Kingdom of Sweden, Oscar I of Sweden and Norway

Oscar I (July 8, 1799 – July 8, 1859) was King of Sweden and Norway from 8 March 1844 until his death. He was the second monarch of the House of Bernadotte.

Oscar was born at 291 Rue Cisalpine in Paris to Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte,, and Désirée Clary, Napoleon Bonaparte’s former fiancée. Oscar was named Joseph after his godfather Joseph Bonaparte, who was married to his mother’s elder sister Julie, but was also given the names François Oscar. The latter name was chosen by Napoleon after one of the heroes in the Ossian cycle of poems. Désirée is said to have chosen Napoleon to be Oscar’s godfather. Oscar’s father, Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, was the-then-French Minister of War and later Marshal of the Empire and Sovereign Prince of Pontecorvo.

Oscar I, King of Sweden and Norway

On August 21, 1810, Oscar’s father was elected heir-presumptive to the Swedish throne by the Riksdag of the Estates, as King Carl XIII was without legitimate heirs. Two months later, on November 5, he was formally adopted by the king under the name of “Carl Johan”; Oscar was then created a Prince of Sweden with the style of Royal Highness, and further accorded the title of Duke of Södermanland. Oscar and his mother moved from Paris to Stockholm in June 1811; while Oscar soon acclimatized to life at the royal court, quickly acquiring the Swedish language, Désirée had difficulty adjusting and despised the cold weather. Consequently, she left Sweden in the summer of 1811, and would not return until 1823.

Oscar became Crown Prince in 1818 upon the death of his adoptive grandfather, Carl XIII and the accession of Carl Johan to the Swedish and Norwegian thrones as King Carl XIV-III Johan.

Carl XIV-III Johan of Sweden feared the legitimist policy of the Congress of Vienna, and that they may restore the deposed King Gustav IV Adolph of Sweden, therefore he wished to give the House of Bernadotte connections through blood with old royal dynasties of Europe. The marriage of his son and heir to the throne, Crown Prince Oscar, was the solution to this problem, and in 1822, he finally forced his son to agree to marry and to make a trip to Europe to inspect a list of potential candidates for the position of Crown Princess and Queen. This is the list of the four princesses as candidates for marriage, in order of his priority:

* Wilhelmina of Denmark (born January 18, 1808), daughter of Frederik VI of Denmark and Marie Sophie of Hesse-Kassel (ultimately she married first Frederik VII of Denmark and second Karl, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, eldest brother of the future King Christian IX of Denmark)
* Joséphine of Leuchtenberg (born March 14, 1807), daughter of Eugene, 1st Duke of Leuchtenberg and Augusta of Bavaria, and granddaughter of the Empress Josephine.
* Marie of Hesse-Cassel (born September 6, 1804), daughter of Wilhelm II, Elector of Hesse and Augusta of Prussia (ultimately she married Bernard II of Saxe-Meiningen)
* Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (born 3 February 1808), daughter of Charles Friedrich I of Saxe-Weimar and Maria Pavlovna of Russia (ultimately she married Prince Charles of Prussia)

Joséphine of Leuchtenberg

Crown Prince Oscar declined marriage to a Danish Princess, but expressed his interest in the Princess of Leuchtenberg after his first meeting with Joséphine on 23 August 23, 1822 in Eichstätt. The couple reportedly developed a mutual attraction and fell in love when they saw each other, and therefore, the marriage was accepted by both families and duly arranged. Through her mother, Joséphine was a descendant of Gustav I of Sweden and Charles IX of Sweden, making her children descendants of Gustav Vasa. Through her maternal grandfather, Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, she was also one of the descendants of Renata of Lorraine, granddaughter of Christian II of Denmark.

Oscar married of Joséphine of Leuchtenberg first by proxy at the Leuchtenberg Palace in Munich on May 22, 1823 and in person at a wedding ceremony conducted in Stockholm on June 19, 1823.

The couple had five children:
1. King Carl XV-IV (1826–1872)
2. Prince Gustaf, Duke of Uppland (1827–1852)
3. King Oscar II (1829–1907)
4. Princess Eugenie (1830–1889)
5. Prince August, Duke of Dalarna (1831–1873)

In 1838 Carl XIV-III Johan began to suspect that his son was plotting with the Liberal politicians to bring about a change of ministry, or even his own abdication. If Oscar did not actively assist the Opposition on this occasion, his disapprobation of his father’s despotic behaviour was notorious, though he avoided an actual rupture. Yet his liberalism was of the most cautious and moderate character, as the Opposition—shortly after his accession to the thrones in 1844—discovered to their great chagrin.

Daguerreotype of Oscar I in 1844; this is the first known photograph of a Swedish monarch.

The new king would not hear of any radical reform of the cumbersome and obsolete 1809 Instrument of Government, which made the king a near-autocrat. However, one of his earliest measures was to establish freedom of the press. He also passed the first law supporting gender equality in Sweden when he in 1845 declared that brothers and sisters should have equal inheritance, unless there was a will.

Oscar I also formally established equality between his two kingdoms by introducing new flags with the common Union badge of Norway and Sweden, as well as a new coat of arms for the union.

In foreign affairs, Oscar I was a friend of the principle of nationality; in 1848 he supported Denmark against the Kingdom of Prussia in the First War of Schleswig by placing Swedish and Norwegian troops in cantonments in Funen and North Schleswig (1849–1850), and was the mediator of the Truce of Malmö (26 August 1848). He was also one of the guarantors of the integrity of Denmark (the London Protocol, May 8, 1852).

As early as 1850, Oscar I had conceived the plan of a dynastic union of the three Scandinavian kingdoms, but such difficulties presented themselves that the scheme had to be abandoned. He succeeded, however, in reversing his father’s obsequious policy towards Imperial Russia. His fear lest Russia should demand a stretch of coast along the Varanger Fjord induced him to remain neutral during the Crimean War, and, subsequently, to conclude an alliance with Great Britain and the Second French Empire (November 25, 1855) for preserving the territorial integrity of Sweden-Norway.

Death

In an address to him in 1857, the Riksdag declared that he had promoted the material prosperity of the kingdom more than any of his predecessors. Also, in the 1850s, Oscar’s health began to rapidly deteriorate, becoming paralyzed in 1857; he died two years later at the Royal Palace in Stockholm on July 8, 1859. His eldest son, who served as Regent during his absence, succeeded him as Carl XV.

Napoleon I, Emperor of the French

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Archduchess Marie Louise, Carl XIII of Sweden, Emperor of the French, Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, Joséphine de Beauharnais, Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon complex, Napoleon I, Napoleonic Wars, oséphine de Beauharnais

In today’s featured monarch section I thought I would focus on Napoleon. I will be upfront and say I am not crazy about this guy although I must admit what he did greatly impacted European history and the events surrounding him are fascinating. His presence and ambitions forced the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire. I always wondered if the end of the empire was inevitable? Had Napoleon never come along would their still be a Holy Roman Empire? Napoleon changed the history of and the map of Europe. I feel his biggest impact was in France and Germany. One of the reasons I do not care for him is because I have a hard time thinking of him as royal. To me the ancient regime of the lines of Hugh Capét were the legitimate sovereigns of France and I see the French Empire as mere usurpers. As with many things in life to the victor goes the ability to make the rules!

Napoleon was born on August 15, 1769 in the town of Ajaccio, Corsica. He was the was the second of eight children to his parents Carlo Bonaparte and Letizia Ramolino. Napoleon became a French national at the right time seeing that the Italian island of Corsica had been occupied by French forces under the command of the Comte de Vaux in 1768 and 1769. His family was of the Italian nobility, attached to Tuscany. At a young age Napoleon joined the French military as an artillery officer and his natural talent and skill for the military allowed him to rise to prominence under the France’s First Republic. He proved himself in many campaigns against the First and Second Coalitions arrayed against France. It was in 1799 that his star really began to rise when he staged a coup d’état and installed himself as First Consul. Five years later he had the French Senate proclaimed him emperor. His lust for power and land was almost boundless. The first fifteen years of the the 19th century was caught up in a series of conflicts, known as the Napoleonic Wars, that would involve every major European power.

His tumultuous relationship with his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais, has become fuel for legend. In order to give himself an heir, along with more power and prestige, he chose as his second wife Archduchess Marie Louise, daughter of Franz II, The last Holy Roman Emperor and first Emperor of Austria. They had one son, Napoleon II, who lived his life in exile in Austria after his father’s defeat. There were rumors that Napoleon II, who become Franz, Duke of Reichstadt in Austria, was the actual father of Archduke Maximilian of Austria and Emperor of Mexico, and brother of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph. This rumor has never been substantiated.

Napoleon certainly had enemies. Czar Alexander I saw his aim in his life was to defeat Napoleon, whom he called “the oppressor of Europe and the disturber of the world’s peace.” Napoleon set up many of his relatives as puppet kings. Jerome was made the king of Westphalia a kingdom carved out of Prussian territory. He set up his brother Joseph as the king of Spain. One positive repercussion of Napoleon’s campaigns was that Sweden got a new royal family that still sits on the throne today. A French General, Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, was very popular in Sweden for the kindness he showed Swedish prisoners in a recent campaign against Denmark. With the elderly and childless king Carl XIII of Sweden needing and heir, and with the Swedish government looking for a soldier, Bernadotte was elected Crown Prince of Sweden in 1810 and became king of Sweden and Norway in 1818.

Napoleon’s ambitions were finally thwarted on the battlefield of Waterloo in 1815 when he was soundly defeated by a multinational army lead by the Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington. He was exiled once again, after having been defeated and exiled the previous year and he died on the isle of Saint Helena on May 3, 1821 at the age of only 51. His first escape from exile in 1814 interrupted the Congress of Vienna which had convened to try to repair the dame from the the Napoleonic Wars and the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire. The rightful kings of France were restored and Germany was sent on its slow path to unification.

I find Napoleon amazing in that he did so much in such a short life. I also find his lust for power fascinating. With my background in psychology Napoleon makes an interesting study. He has given his name to a disorder, the Napoleon Complex: This is from wikipedia.

Napoleon complex is an informal term describing an alleged type of which is said to affect some people, especially men, who are short in stature. The term is also used more generally to describe people who are driven by a perceived handicap to overcompensate in other aspects of their lives. Other names for the term include Napoleon syndrome[1] and Short Man syndrome. It does not appear in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

Although not a true disorder I do know some men who do struggle with issues of height. But was his aggressive need for power compensating for some lack in his life? Was it a drive for self-esteem? A poor self image can plague many people and what better way to bolster a shaky self-image than to proclaim ones self to be an Emperor?