January 26, 1763: Birth of Carl XIV-III Johan, King of Sweden and Norway.

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Crown Prince Carl August of Sweden, Emperor of the French, Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, King Carl XIII-II of Sweden and Norway, King Carl XIV-III Johan of Sweden and Norway, King Christian VII of Denmark, King Christian VIII of Denmark, Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleonic Wars, Prince Christian August of Denmark

From the Emperor’s Desk: In this examination of King Carl XIV-III Johan of Sweden and Norway I will cover his marriage and election to the Swedish throne.

Incidentally, when I began studying royalty I was interested in knowing if the Britis Crown had been passed down in the same family or did they ever bring in a family that was totally unrelated by Blood to previous monarchs. Although this is not Britain, for life of the future King of Sweden demonstrates such a case.

Carl XIV-III Johan (January 26, 1763 – March 8, 1844) was King of Sweden and Norway from 1818 until his death in 1844. Before his reign he was a Marshal of France during the Napoleonic Wars and participated in several battles. In modern Norwegian lists of kings he is called Carl III Johan. He was the first monarch of the Bernadotte dynasty.

Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte was born on 26 January 26, 1763 in Pau, the capital of the province of Béarn in the southwestern part of the Kingdom of France. He was the son of Jean Henri Bernadotte (1711–1780), prosecutor at Pau, and his wife, Jeanne de Saint-Jean (1728–1809).

The family name was originally du Poey (or de Pouey), but was changed to Bernadotte—a surname of an ancestress at the beginning of the 17th century. He was the youngest of five siblings, two of whom died in childhood. Soon after his birth, Baptiste was added to his name, to distinguish him from his elder brother Jean Évangeliste. Bernadotte himself added Jules to his first names as a tribute to the French Empire under Napoleon I.

Carl XIV-III Johan, King of Sweden and Norway

Bernadotte joined the French Royal Army in 1780. Following the outbreak of the French Revolution, he exhibited great military talent, rapidly rising through the ranks, and was made a brigadier general by 1794. He served with distinction in Italy and Germany, and was briefly Minister of War.

His relationship with Napoleon was turbulent; nevertheless, Napoleon named him a Marshal of the Empire on the proclamation of the French Empire. Bernadotte played a significant role in the French victory at Austerlitz, and was made Prince of Pontecorvo as a reward.

Marriage

Désirée Clary was born in Marseille, France, the daughter of François Clary (February 24, 1725 – January 20, 1794), a wealthy silk manufacturer and merchant, by his second wife Françoise Rose Somis (1737 – 1815).

Clary had a sister and brother to whom she remained very close all her life. Her sister, Julie Clary, married Joseph Bonaparte, and later became Queen of Naples and Spain. Her brother, Nicholas Joseph Clary, was created Count Clary. He married Anne Jeanne Rouyer, by whom he had a daughter named Zénaïde Françoise Clary (1812 – 1884). Zénaïde would marry Napoléon Alexandre Berthier, the son of Marshal Louis Alexandre Berthier, and have several children, among them the first wife of Joachim, 4th Prince Murat.

Désirée, Queen of Sweden and Norway

She received a proposal from General Junot, but turned it down because it was given through Marmont. Clary eventually met her future spouse, Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, another French general and politician. They were married in a secular ceremony at Sceaux on August 17, 1798. In the marriage contract, Clary was given economic independence. On July 4, 1799, she gave birth to their only child, a son, Oscar.

In 1810 Bernadotte was about to enter his new post as governor of Rome when he was unexpectedly elected the heir-presumptive to King Carl XIII-II of Sweden and Norway. The problem of Carl’s successor had been acute almost from the time he had ascended the throne a year earlier.

The King was 61 years old and in poor health. He was also childless; Queen Elizabeth Charlotte had given birth to two children who had died in infancy, and there was no prospect of her bearing another child.

Queen Elizabeth Charlotte was daughter of Duke Friedrich August I of Holstein-Gottorp and Princess Ulrike Friederike of Hesse-Cassel.

Soon after his coronation, the king had adopted a Danish prince Carl August, (originally Prince Christian August of Denmark).

Prince Christian August was the son of Friedrich Christian I, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (1721–1794) and Princess Charlotte of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön (1744–1770).

Carl XIII-II, King of Sweden and Norway

He was a younger brother of Friedrich Christian II, Duke of Augustenborg, brother-in-law of Princess Louise Auguste of Denmark “daughter” of King Christian VII of Denmark and Caroline Matilda of Great Britain and an uncle of Caroline Amalie of Augustenburg, Queen Consort of Denmark as the wife of Christian VIII and Christian August, Duke of Augustenborg. He did not marry.

Despite the fact that Napoleon favored his ally Danish King Frederik VI, Danish Prince Frederick Christian initially had the most support to become Swedish Crown Prince as well.

As Crown Prince of Sweden, Prince Christian August changed his name to Carl August. Honors were lavished upon him on his arrival, he was for example made an honorary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on April 18, 1810, and was the first person to enjoy this status in that academy.

However, he did not live long enough to make a historical impact in Sweden. He suddenly died on 28 May 28, 1810, when he fell off his horse during a military practice in Kvidinge. His autopsy confirmed that he had died of a stroke, but at the same time rumours went that he had been poisoned by Gustavians.

Specifically, the Marshal of the Realm Count Axel von Fersen was openly accused of having killed Crown Prince Carl August, and was lynched on June 20, 1810 during the funeral procession of Carl August. Carl August was buried in Riddarholmen Church, the burial church of Swedish monarchs.

The political situation internally and externally for Sweden meant that selecting a foreign king was an attractive option. Sweden wanted to strengthen its relationship with Napoleon for militaristic reasons so sought to select a king who would be able to attract Napoleon’s support.

The Swedish court initially sounded out the emperor for his preferences on candidates for crown prince, whereupon Napoleon made it clear he preferred his adopted stepson Eugène de Beauharnais, or one of his nephews or brothers.

The Swedish envoys did not accept Eugène as a candidate. Baron Lagerbielke, the Swedish envoy in Paris, reported to Stockholm that Eugène was “gentle and good,” “but he does not seem to be a man of strong character; and, although he had had great opportunities, he does not appear to have developed any distinguishing talents.”

Also, Eugène, serving as viceroy in Italy, did not wish to convert to Lutheranism, a prerequisite for accepting the Swedish offer. Moreover, none of Napoleon’s brothers were interested in going to Sweden and his nephews were too young, as the Swedes did not want the hazards of minority rule in the event King Carl XIII died prematurely.

The matter was decided by an obscure Swedish courtier, Baron Karl Otto Mörner (nephew of Count Gustav Mörner, the commander of the Swedish force captured by Bernadotte at Lübeck), who, entirely on his own initiative, offered the succession to the Swedish crown to Bernadotte.

Carl XIV-III Johan, King of Sweden and Norway

Bernadotte communicated Mörner’s offer to Napoleon who at first treated the situation as an absurdity, but later came around to the idea and supported Bernadotte’s candidacy both financially and diplomatically.

Although the Swedish government, amazed at Mörner’s effrontery, at once placed him under arrest on his return to Sweden, the candidature of Bernadotte gradually gained favour and on August 21, 1810 he was elected by the Riksdag of the Estates in Örebro to be the new crown prince, and was subsequently made Generalissimus of the Swedish Armed Forces by the King.

Several factors benefitted Bernadotte’s election. Being foreign was, although problematic, also to his favour due to geopolitical factors and the internal situation at the time. One benefit was his (presumed) close ties to French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, with whom a relationship would provide military backing as the intention at the time was to reacquire Finland.

The current King, Carl XIII, viewed Napoleon in a more positive way than the deposed King, Gustaf IV Adolph had, who had held him in very ill regard. Another point in favour was that a large part of the Swedish Army, anticipating conflict with Russia, were in favour of electing a soldier.

Also, Bernadotte was personally popular, owing to the kindness he had shown to the Swedish prisoners in Lübeck and his reputation as the well-liked governor of the Hanseatic Cities from 1807 to 1809; as many Swedish merchants had operated under his auspices.

Finally, Bernadotte had no qualms about converting to Lutheranism, recalling the conversion of King Henri IV for the benefit of France with whom he felt a kinship with as both hailed from Pau, nor converting his son Oscar (though his wife Désirée never did renounce Catholicism).

Before freeing Bernadotte from his allegiance to France, Napoleon asked him to agree never to take up arms against France. Bernadotte refused to make any such agreement, upon the ground that his obligations to Sweden would not allow it; Napoleon exclaimed “Go, and let our destinies be accomplished” and signed the act of emancipation unconditionally.

On November 2, 1810 Bernadotte made his solemn entry into Stockholm, and on November 5, he received the homage of the Riksdag of the Estates, and he was adopted by King Carl XIII under the name of “Carl Johan.”

At the same time, he converted from Roman Catholicism to the Lutheranism of the Swedish court; Swedish law required the monarch to be Lutheran.

soon after his arrival becoming de facto head of state for most of his time as Crown Prince. In 1813, following the sudden unprovoked French invasion of Swedish Pomerania, Crown Prince Carl Johan was instrumental in the creation of the Sixth Coalition by allying with Emperor Alexander I of Russia and using Swedish diplomacy to bring warring Russia and Britain together in alliance. He then authored the Trachenberg Plan, the war-winning Allied campaign plan, and commanded the Allied Army of the North that defeated two concerted French attempts to capture Berlin and made the decisive attack on the last day of the catastrophic French defeat at Leipzig.

After the War of the Sixth Coalition, Crown Prince Carl Johan forced King Frederik VI of Denmark to cede Norway to Sweden, leading to the Swedish–Norwegian War of 1814 where Norway was defeated after a single summer’s conflict. This put Norway into a union with Sweden, which lasted for almost a century before its peaceful 1905 dissolution. The Swedish–Norwegian war is credited as Sweden’s last direct conflict and war.

Upon the death of King Carl XIII-II in 1818, Crown Prince Carl Johan ascended to the thrones as King Carl XIII-II Johan of Sweden and Norway. He presided over a period of peace and prosperity, and reigned until his death in 1844.

Christian August II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg & the Danish Throne

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Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, Christian VIII of Denmark, Countess Louise Sophie of Danneskiold-Samsøe, Duke Christian August II of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, Johann Friedrich Struensee, King Christian VII of Denmark, King Frederik VI of Denmark, King Frederik VII of Denmark, Queen of Denmark and Norway

From the Emperor’s Desk: The post examines Christian August II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg a grandson of Princess Caroline Matilda of Great Britain and his claim to the Danish throne that was tainted by his alleged descent from Caroline Matilda and Johann Friedrich Struensee.

Christian August II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (July 19, 1798 – March 11, 1869, Christian Charles Frederik August), commonly known as Christian, Duke of Augustenborg, was a German prince and statesman.

During the 1850s and 1860s, he was a claimant to be Duke of the whole provinces of Schleswig and Holstein, and a candidate to become king of Denmark following the death of King Frederik VII.

He was the father-in-law of Princess Helena of the United Kingdom (daughter of Queen Victoria) and the paternal grandfather of Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, German Empress, Queen of Prussia and wife of German Emperor Wilhelm II.

Family and lineage

He was closely related to Kings Christian VII, Frederik VI and Christian VIII of Denmark through his mother and was a claimant for the Danish throne in the 1860s.

Born a prince of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg and scion of a cadet-line descendant of the Danish royal House of Oldenburg, Christian August was the fiefholder of Augustenborg and Sønderborg.

He was also a claimant to the rulership of the provinces of Schleswig and Holstein, and he was also a candidate to become king of Denmark during the succession crisis caused by the childlessness of King Frederik VII of Denmark. He lost the chance to ascend the throne to his distant kinsman, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck, the future King Christian IX of Denmark.

Christian August was the eldest son and heir of Frederik Christian II, Duke of Augustenborg and his wife Princess Louise Auguste of Denmark.

His father was the head of the senior cadet branch of the ruling house of Denmark, and thus the nearest agnatic kin of the kings of Denmark. Furthermore, his mother Louisa Auguste was (officially) the daughter of King Christian VII of Denmark and his wife Princess Caroline Matilda of Great Britain. Louisa Auguste was the sister of King Frederik VI and the first cousin of King Christian VIII.

Due to all this, Christian August was high in the line of succession to the Danish throne. He also enjoyed additional influence in the Danish court because his sister, Caroline Amalie, was the beloved second wife of King Christian VIII of Denm (his mother’s cousin).

Christian August’s family lost out in the competition for the throne of Denmark mainly because of the widely accepted belief that his mother, Louisa Augusteof Denmar, was actually fathered by Johann Friedrich Struensee, Christian VII’s royal physician, who had an affair with Christian VII’s wife Caroline Matilda of Great Britain.

If true, this would mean Christian August was not a true legitimate descendant of King Frederik III of Denmark and Norway, the first hereditary monarch of Denmark. His claim was further weakened by having married for love to Countess Louise Sophie Danneskiold-Samsøe, a woman of unequal rank.

Countess Louise Sophie of Danneskiold-Samsøe was born on September 22, 1796 in Gisselfeld, Denmark to Christian Conrad, Count af Danneskiold-Samsøe (1774–1823) and his wife Johanne Henriette Valentine Kaas (1776–1843), daughter of the Danish Admiral Frederik Christian Kaas and a descendant of the war hero Jørgen Kaas.

The House of Danneskiold-Samsøe is a non-dynastic branch of the House of Oldenburg, descended from Christian Gyldenløve, Count of Samsø, an illegitimate son of Christian V of Denmark by his mistress Sophie Amalie Moth.

September 15, 1666: Birth of Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Celle. Conclusion.

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George William of Brunswick-Celle, Johann Friedrich Struensee, King Christian VII of Denmark, King Friedrich-Wilhelm I of Prussia, King George I of Great Britain, King George II of Great Britain, Princess Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, Princess of Ahlden, Queen of Denmark and Norway, Queen of Prussia, Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick-Celle, Sophia Dorothea of Hanover

Divorce and Imprisonment

Königsmarck was eliminated, but that was not enough to restore the Electoral Prince’s honor. He demanded a legal separation from his wife, with her as the only responsible part. Sophia Dorothea is transferred to Lauenau Castle in late 1694 and placed there under house arrest during the divorce proceedings. On 28 December 1694 the dissolutionSeptember 15, 1666: Birth of Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Celle. Part I. of the marriage was officially pronounced with the Electoral Princess as the sole guilty party for “maliciously leaving her husband” (desertion). The fact that her husband, Georg Ludwig, had a long term mistress was not mentioned.

Sophia Dorothea was forbidden to remarry or seeing her children again; her name was removed from all official documents, she was no longer mentioned in the prayers and the title of Electoral Princess was stripped of her. After the verdict, she was sent to the remote Ahlden House, a stately home on the Lüneburg Heath, which served as a prison appropriate to her status. Although the sentence says nothing about continued imprisonment, she should never regain her freedom.

At the behest of her former husband and with the consent of her own father, Sophia Dorothea was imprisoned for life. He confiscated her assets brought into the marriage and gave her an annual maintenance. She initially received 8,000 thalers for herself and her court, later raised to 28,000 thalers (her father and former father-in-law had committed to this in equal parts). She was quartered in the north wing of the castle, a two-story half-timbered building. A guard of 40 men was deployed for Sophia Dorothea, five to ten of whom guarded the castle 24 hours. All her mail and visitis were strictly controlled; however, there was never any attempt at liberation or escape.

Initially, Sophia Dorothea was only allowed to walk unaccompanied inside the mansion courtyard, later also under guard in the outdoor facilities. After two years in prison, she was allowed to take supervised trips only within 2 kilometers outside the residence. Her stay in Ahlden was interrupted several times due to war events or renovation work on the residence. During these times she was housed in Celle Castle or in Essel. Her mother had unlimited visits. Her court included two ladies-in-waiting, several chambermaids and other household and kitchen staff. These had all been selected for their loyalty to Hanover.

Sophia Dorothea was allowed to call herself “Princess of Ahlden” after her new place of residence. In the first few years she was extremely apathetic and resigned to her fate, later she tried to obtain her release. When her former father-in-law died in 1698, she sent a humble letter of condolence to her former husband, assuring him that “she prayed for him every day and begged him on her knees to forgive her mistakes. She will be eternally grateful to him if he allows her to see her two children”. She also wrote to Electress Sophia in a letter of condolence that she wanted nothing more than “to kiss your Highness’ s hands before I die”. Their requests were in vain.

When Sophia Dorothea’s father was on his deathbed in 1705, he wanted to see his daughter one last time to reconcile with her, but his Prime Minister, Count Bernstorff, objected and claimed that a meeting would lead to diplomatic problems with Hanover; Georg Wilhelm no longer had the strength to assert himself against him.

After the devastating local fire of Ahlden in 1715, Sophia Dorothea contributed with considerable sums of money to the reconstruction.

Death and Burial

The death of her mother —the only one who until the end fight for her release— in 1722 leave Sophia Dorothea completely alone and surrounded only by enemies, with the lasting hope of seeing her children again. Her daughter Sophia Dorothea of Hanover the Queen of Prussia (husband of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia) came to Hanover in 1725 to meet her father (who is now King of Great Britain since 1714); Sophia Dorothea, who dressed even more carefully than usual, waited every day at the window of her residence in vain for her visit, which never came.

In the end she only seems to have found pleasure in eating. Her defenses waned and became overweight due to the lack of exercise. Increasingly she suffered from febrile colds and indigestion. In early 1726 she suffered a stroke, and in August of that year she went to bed with severe colic, which she never left. She refused medical help and refused to eat.

Within a few weeks she grew emaciated. Sophia Dorothea died shortly before midnight on November 13, 1726 aged 60; her autopsy revealed a liver failure and gall bladder occlusion due to 60 gallstones. Her former husband placed an announcement in The London Gazette to the effect that the “Duchess of Ahlden” had died, but would not allow the wearing of mourning in London or Hanover. He was furious when he heard that his daughter’s court in Berlin wore black.

Sophia Dorothea’s funeral turned into a farce. Because the guards had no instructions in this case, her remains were placed in a lead coffin and deposited in the cellar. In January 1727 the order came from London to bury her without any ceremonies in the cemetery of Ahlden, which was impossible due to weeks of heavy rain. So the coffin came back into the cellar and was covered with sand. It wasn’t until May 1727 that Sophia Dorothea was secretly buried at night beside her parents in the Stadtkirche in Celle. Her former husband Georg Ludwig (now King George I of Great Britain), died four weeks later while visiting Hanover.

Inheritance

Sophia Dorothea’s parents must have secretly believed to the last that their daughter would one day be released from prison. In any case, in January 1705, shortly before her father’s death, he and his wife drew up a joint will, according to which their daughter receive the estates of Ahlden, Rethem and Walsrode, extensive estates in France and Celle, the great fortune of her father and the legendary jewelry collection of her mother. Her father appointed Count Heinrich Sigismund von Bar as the administrator of Sophia Dorothea’s fortune. He was twelve years older than the princess, a handsome, highly educated and sensitive gentleman, whom Sophia Dorothea showed deep affection for, which didn’t go unrequited. She named him as one of the main beneficiaries of her will, but unfortunately he died six years before her.

Trivia

Sophia Dorothea’s great-granddaughter Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, Queen consort of Denmark and Norway (1751–1775) shared her same fate. The youngest and posthumous daughter of Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, by Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Caroline Matilda was raised in a secluded family atmosphere away from the royal court. At the age of fifteen, she was married to her first cousin, King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway, who suffered from a mental illness and was cold to his wife throughout the marriage. She had two children: the future Frederik VI and Louise Augusta, whose biological father may have been the German physician Johann Friedrich Struensee.

After the Struensee affair in 1772, she was divorced from her husband, separated from her children and sent to Celle Castle, where she died three years later. In the crypt of the Stadtkirche St. Marien, both women are united in death.

Historical Fiction

Tags

A Royal Affair, Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, Historical fiction, Johann Friedrich Struensee, King Christian VII of Denmark, King George III of Great Britain, King Henry VIII of England, King John of England, King Richard I of England, Queen Elizabeth I of England, William I of England, William the Conqueror, William Wallace

I enjoy writing short stories. I have written several short stories in the science-fiction genre. After viewing several royalty related movies I began to long for certain stories to be made into feature films. One story I wish Hollywood would make is a story on William the Conqueror. Yet one of the reasons I realize why this probably never would happen is the fact that William the Conqueror is not as well known as other English royals.

The American population is familiar with the present royal family, Queen Victoria and the Tudors, specifically Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. King Richard the Lion Heart and King John are well known as long as they are tied to a story about Robin Hood. Beyond that I am not sure there would be a big interest in a film about William the Conqueror in this country. On the other hand, If Mel Gibson can make Braveheart, about William Wallace who was obscure to many Americans prior to the film, then I guess any story about European royals may be open. There is a foreign film, A Royal Affair, that is up for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. That is the story about King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway and the affair his wife, Queen Caroline Matilda (sister to King George III of Great Britain) had with Johann Friedrich Struensee a royal physician. So maybe it is possible other films will be made about Englisdh and other royals?

In the meantime I have decided to write some historical fisction, in the form of short stoiries. I am beginning with the story of William the Conqueror. I will cover his life in three self-contained stories. One story about his youth and how he withstood tests to his rule of the Duchy of Normandy. The second story will cover his conquest of England and the third will cover the end of his life.

I am in the research mode right now and as I complete these stories I will share them on this blog.