October 8, 1753: Birth of Princess Sophia Albertina of Sweden, Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg Abbey. Part I

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14 points, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Grand Duke Peter I of Oldenburg, Holy Roman Empire, King Carl XIII of Sweden and Norway, King Gustaf III of Sweden, King Stanisław August Poniatowski of Poland, Kingdom of Sweden, Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg, Sophia Albertina of Sweden

From the Emperor’s Desk: I have been posting on the life of King Carl XIII of Sweden and, who was born on October 7. Today I will be posting about his sister who was born October 8, five years later.

Princess Sophia Albertina of Sweden (October 8, 1753 – March 17, 1829) was the last Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg Abbey, and as such reigned as vassal monarch of the Holy Roman Empire.

Sophia Albertina was the daughter of King Adolf Fredrik of Sweden and Louisa Ulrika of Prussia. She was thus a princess of Sweden, a princess of Holstein-Gottorp and a sister to Gustaf III of Sweden and Carl XIII of Sweden and Norway. She was a member of the Accademia di San Luca. When her brother Carl XIII of Sweden and the rest of the royal family also became Norwegian royalty in 1814, that did not include Sophia Albertina who then officially was called Royal Princess (of no country).

She was given her two names as namesake of her two grandmothers:

Sophia Dorothea of Hanover (March 26, 1687 – June 28, 1757) was a Queen consort in Prussia as spouse of King Friedrich Wilhelm I. She was the sister of George II, King of Great Britain, and the mother of Friedrich II, King of Prussia.

Princess and Margravine Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach (July 3, 1682 – December 22, 1755) was a German princess. She was the daughter of Friedrich VII, Margrave of Baden-Durlach and his wife Duchess Augusta Marie of Holstein-Gottorp. She married Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin.

Living at the court of her mother, Sophia Albertina was somewhat isolated after 1771, when her mother and her reigning brother became more and more at odds with each other.

Sophia Albertina and her youngest brother, Prince Fredrik Adolf of Sweden, were the favourites of their mother, and also very close themselves. Sophia Albertina lived at her mother’s court and under her strict control until the latter’s death in 1782.

During the conflict of 1778, when her mother, the Queen Dowager, supported the rumour that her brother King Gustaf III had given the task to father his heir to Count Fredrik Adolf Munck, Sophia Albertina and her brother Fredrik sided with their mother. In 1780, when the carriage of the Queen Dowager and Sophia Albertina met the carriages of the King and the Queen, Sophia Albertina avoided a confrontation by waving at the royal couple, thereby hiding her mother from view.

At her mother’s death in 1782, she and her brother Fredrik burned some of their mother’s papers before they could be seen by the King. In Stockholm, a palace was built as her residence, known today as Arvfurstens Palats. Unlike her brothers, she was not given a residence in the countryside because she was expected always to accompany her brothers’ court.

Sophia Albertina was not described as beautiful or intelligent, but she enjoyed parties and participated enthusiastically in the festivities of the court of Gustaf III. According to her sister-in-law, Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte, she was good hearted but very temperamental and hard to handle, and she is described as generous and caring but easily provoked into conflicts.

Sophia Albertina did not like to see women be treated badly, and often intervened when she considered a woman at court to have been insulted or in any way badly treated, such as when Gustaf III in her eyes treated the ladies-in-waiting participating in his amateur theatre too hard, and when her sister-in-law was given a bad seat in the theatre, which caused Sophia Albertina to accuse her of not attending to her rights

Sophia Albertina was interested in theatre and dance, though according to Axel von Fersen the Elder she lacked talent for it, and she also participated in the amateur theatre at court. She was interested in riding and hunting and had at least thirteen named dogs as pets.

She painted in pastel and made profile portraits and caricatures. During a visit to Rome in 1793, she was inducted into the Accademia di San Luca. Like her sister-in-law, she enjoyed hunting. She also had several small dogs: Bellman once wrote a poem about her 13 dogs.

Private life

Early on, there were plans for a possible marriage for Sophia Albertina. In 1772 her brother, King Gustaf III, who lived in a childless and unconsummated marriage, had the idea of letting his younger siblings provide an heir to the throne, and both Sophia Albertina and her brother Prince Charles was considered for this task.

Among the marriage partners considered for Sophia Albertina were her cousin Prince Peter of Holstein-Gottorp, Grand Duke of Oldenburg and Prince-Bishop of Lübeck, but these plans were abandoned in 1780.

A marriage to King Stanisław August Poniatowski of Poland was also suggested, despite the religious differences, but the match was opposed by the king’s sisters Ludwika Maria Poniatowska and Izabella Poniatowska, and nothing came of it.

Sophia Albertina was sometimes called The Princess with the ice heart. However, it was common knowledge in Stockholm that she was not exempt from having a love life. There were well-known and persistent rumours that Sophia Albertina gave birth to a child sometime in 1785/86.

The child has sometime been said to be a son, named Peter Niklas, or a daughter, named Sophia after herself. The place for the birth has been suggested as Allmänna Barnbördshuset, a public hospital, where women were allowed to give birth with their faces covered by a mask to preserve their anonymity.

The purported daughter was allegedly brought up by foster parents and it was arranged that she be married off to a wealthy merchant as an adult. This rumour is unconfirmed and the truth of it is unknown. The father was often identified as Count Fredrik Vilhelm von Hessenstein, son of King Fredrik I of Sweden and his mistress Hedvig Taube. Another suggested father was Gustav Badin, her African butler, but there is no mention that the child was of mixed race.

Fredrik Vilhelm von Hessenstein is often pointed out as the love of Sophia Albertina, and she is said to have wished to marry him, but Gustaf III refused to grant his permission because the mother of Hessenstein had been a royal mistress.

December 18, 1290: Death of King Magnus III of Sweden.

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Hedwig of Holstein, King Eric X of Sweden, King Magnus III of Sweden, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of the Goths

Magnus III (ca. 1240 – 18 December 1290) was King of Sweden from 1275 until his death in 1290.

Name
He was the “first Magnus” to rule Sweden for any length of time, not generally regarded as a usurper or a pretender (but third Magnus to have been proclaimed Sweden’s king and ruled there). Later historians ascribe his epithet “Ladulås” – Barnlock – to a royal decree of 1279 or 1280 freeing the yeomanry from the duty to provide sustenance for travelling nobles and bishops (“Peasants! Lock your barns!”); another theory is that it’s a corruption of Ladislaus, which could possibly have been his second name, considering his Slavic heritage. This king has also been referred to as Magnus I, but that is not recognized by any Swedish historians today.

Magnus III Barnlock of Sweden effigy by Lucas van der Werdt in 1574

Early life
Magnus, whose birth year has never been confirmed in modern times, was probably the second son of Birger Jarl (1200–66) and Princess Ingeborg, herself the sister of the childless King Eric XI and daughter of King Eric X. Thus, Valdemar Birgersson (1239–1302) was the eldest son and ruled as Valdemar, King of Sweden from 1250-1275, succeeding King Eric, their maternal uncle who ruled until 1250. Birger Jarl had designated Magnus as Jarl, henceforth titled Duke of Sweden, and as Valdemar’s successor. Even after Valdemar’s coming of age in 1257, Birger Jarl kept his grip over the country. After Birger’s death in 1266 Valdemar came into conflict with Magnus who wanted the throne for himself.

Accession and marriage
In 1275, Duke Magnus started a rebellion against his brother with Danish help, and ousted him from the throne. Valdemar was deposed by Magnus after the Battle of Hova in the forest of Tiveden on June 14, 1275. Magnus was elected king at the Stones of Mora (Mora stenar). In 1276, Magnus allegedly married a second wife Helwig, daughter of Gerard I of Holstein. Through her mother, Elizabeth of Mecklenburg, Helwig was a descendant of Christina, the putative daughter of King Sverker II. A papal annulment of Magnus’ alleged first marriage and a dispensation for the second (necessary because of consanguinity) were issued ten years later, in 1286. Haelwig later acted as regent, probably 1290–1302 and 1320–1327.

Reign
The deposed King Valdemar managed, with Danish help in turn, to regain provinces in Gothenland in the southern part of the kingdom, and Magnus had to recognize that in 1277. However, Magnus regained them about 1278 and assumed the additional title rex Gothorum, King of the Goths, starting the tradition of “King of the Swedes and the Goths”.

King Magnus’s youngest brother, Benedict (1254-1291), then archdeacon, acted as his Lord High Chancellor of Sweden, and in 1284 Magnus rewarded him with the Duchy of Finland.

Magnus died when his sons were yet underage. Magnus ordered his kinsman Thurchetel Canuteson, the Lord High Constable of Sweden as the guardian of his heir, the future King Birger, who was about ten years old at father’s death

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).

May 4, 1394: Birth of Philippa of England, Queen Consort of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

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Eric of Pomerania, Henry Bolingbroke, Henry IV of England, Kingdom of Denmark, Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Norway, Kingdom of Sweden, Mary de Bohun, Philippa of England, Queen Margrethe I of Denmark, Regent, Scandinavia, Union of Kalmar

Philippa of England (June 4, 1394 – January 5, 1430), also known as Philippa of Lancaster, was Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden from 1406 to 1430 by marriage to King Eric of Pomerania during the Kalmar Union. She was the daughter of King Henry IV of England by his first spouse Mary de Bohun and the younger sister of King Henry V. Queen Philippa participated significantly in state affairs during the reign of her spouse, and served as regent of Denmark from 1423 to 1425.

Philippa of England

Family and Early life

Philippa was born to Henry Bolingbroke and Mary de Bohun, at Peterborough Castle, Peterborough. Her father became king in 1399. She is mentioned a couple of times during her childhood: in 1403, she was present at her widowed father’s wedding to Joan of Navarre, and the same year, she made a pilgrimage to Canterbury. She mainly lived at Berkhamsted Castle and Windsor Castle.

Henry IV’s first wife Mary de Bohun died at Peterborough Castle, giving birth to her last child Philippa of England. She was buried in the collegiate Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of the Newarke, Leicester on July 6, 1394.

Henry IV, King of England and Lord of Ireland

Through Mary de Bohun was also a descendant of the Kings of England. Mary was a daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford (1341-1373) by his wife Joan FitzAlan (1347/8–1419), a daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster. Through her mother, Mary was descended from Llywelyn the Great.

Mary’s grandmother (Philippe’s great-grandmother) Eleanor of Lancaster, Countess of Arundel (sometimes called Eleanor Plantagenet; 1318-1372) was the fifth daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Leicester and Lancaster and Maud Chaworth. Henry, 3rd Earl of Leicester and Lancaster (c. 1281 – 22 September 1345) was a grandson of King Henry III (1216–1272) of England and was one of the principals behind the deposition of King Edward II (1307–1327), his first cousin.

Marriage

In 1400 or 1401, King Henry IV suggested to Queen Margarethe I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden that an alliance be formed between England and the Kalmar Union through a double wedding between Henry’s daughter Philippa to the heir to the Nordic thrones, Eric of Pomerania, and Henry’s son Henry to Eric’s sister Catherine.

Eric of Pomerania (1381 or 1382 – September 24, 1459) was the ruler of the Scandinavian Kalmar Union from 1396 until 1439, succeeding his grandaunt, Queen Margarethe I. He is numbered Eric III as King of Norway (1389–1442), Eric VII as King of Denmark (1396–1439) and Eric XIII as King of Sweden (1396–1434, 1436–39). Later, in all three countries he became more commonly known as Eric of Pomerania.

Eric of Pomerania, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Queen Margarethe could not agree to the terms and the marriage between Henry and Catherine never occurred. In 1405, however, a Scandinavian embassy composed of two envoys from each of the three Nordic kingdoms arrived in England, and the marriage between Philippa and Eric was proclaimed.

The November 26, 1405, Philippa was married to Eric by proxy in Westminster, with the Swedish nobleman Ture Bengtsson Bielke as the stand-in for the groom, and on December 8, she was formally proclaimed Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden in the presence of the Nordic ambassadors.

Philippa left England from Lynn in August 1406 with an entourage of male and female English nobles and arrived in Helsingborg in September, where she was greeted by Eric and Queen Margaret. The wedding between Philippa and Eric of Pomerania took place on October 26, 1406 in Lund Cathedral.

Philippa was the first documented princess in history to wear a white wedding dress during a royal wedding ceremony: she wore a tunic with a cloak in white silk bordered with grey squirrel and ermine. The wedding ceremony was followed by her coronation.

The festivities lasted until November, during which several men were knighted and Philippa’s dowry was officially received by the court chamberlain and clerics from the three kingdoms. Philippa was in turn granted dower lands in all three kingdoms: Närke and Örebro In Sweden, Fyn with Odense and Nasbyhoved in Danmark, and Romerike in Norway.

Queen and Regent

Queen Philippa and King Eric lived in Kalmar Castle in Sweden with their court the first three years of their marriage. Philippa was given her own court, supervised by her chief lady in waiting, Lady Katarina Knutsdotter, a granddaughter of Saint Bridget of Sweden through Lady Märta Ulfsdotter, who had been the chief lady in waiting of Queen Margarethe herself.

From 1409 onward, and particularly after the death of Queen Margarethe I in 1412, when Eric became King de facto, the royal couple mainly resided in Denmark. However, Philippa frequently returned to Sweden, and as she had lived there during her first years in Scandinavia, she was given a close relationship to Sweden, of the three Kingdoms, from the beginning.

Queen Philippa was actively involved in state affairs. By the Pomeranian Act of Succession of 1416, Eric named his cousin Bogusław IX of Pomerania as heir to the three Kingdoms if his marriage to Philippa remained childless. When Eric left to participate in warfare in Femern in 1420, the Act was amended and Philippa was given an active role. The revised Act stated that upon the death of Eric, Queen Philippa should be appointed Regent of the realm until Bogusław could be instated as King; and should Bogusław inherit the three Kingdoms while still a minor, Philippa would serve as Regent during his minority.

Eric evidently had great trust in Philippa. Both ancient and modern authors give a favourable account of her rule. It is said that in certain matters she was more efficient than Eric. However, scholars have largely accepted this judgment of the Queen without going into detail. Her great dower lands in Sweden increased Philippa’s interest in this Kingdom, and while Eric preferred to reside in Denmark, Philippa made such frequent and long visits in Sweden, where she acted as Eric’s proxy while present, that she was the de facto Regent of Sweden for the most part of the 1420s, though not formally made such.

In the spring of 1426, Philippa was sent to Sweden by Eric where she summoned the Swedish council in Vadstena and managed to secure support and funds for the Dano-Hanseatic War (1426–35) despite the Swedish opposition to this war. In January 1427, when the war was going the wrong way for Eric, she summoned the Swedish council to Nyköping, where she again managed to secure Swedish support for Eric in his war. At this visit, she also acquired additional Swedish estates to support her future in Sweden, where she evidently planned to retire as a widow.

In March 1427 she returned to Denmark where she stayed for three years during the war. In 1428, Philippa successfully organized the defense of the Danish capital against the attack of the Hanseatic League during the 1428 bombardment of Copenhagen. She was hailed as a heroine by the people of Copenhagen for rallying the citizens to fight the Hanseatic fleet in Copenhagen Harbor.

In late 1429, Philippa left for Sweden, officially on a mission from Eric to secure support for his war in Sweden, where the war had been opposed from the start. In Sweden, she traveled to Vadstena Abbey as usual, where she was welcomed by a delegation of Swedish riksråd. Not long after her arrival, however, she fell ill.

This was an attack of some kind of a recurring illness which had been noted to affect her at times for at least the previous five years. The queen bore a stillborn boy and her health deteriorated after the stillbirth. She died on January 5, 1430 at the age of 35 and was buried in the Cloister Church at Vadstena, close to Linköping in Östergötland, Sweden. She made several donations to Vadstena Abbey in her will. After her death Eric formed a relationship with a former lady-in-waiting of Philippa’s, Cecilia.

May 15, 1470: Death of King Carl VIII of Sweden.

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Carl VIII of Sweden, Christian I of Denmark, Christopher of Bavaria., Eric of Pomerania, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Kingdom of Denmark, Kingdom of Norway, Kingdom of Sweden, Pope Eugene IV, Union of Kalmar

Carl VIII of Sweden, (also Carl Knutsson) (c.1408/1409-1470), in reality King Carl II, and as Carl I of Norway,, was king of Sweden (1448–1457, 1464–1465 and from 1467 to his death in 1470) and king of Norway (1449–1450).

Carl VIII, King of Sweden and Norway.

Regnal name

Carl was actually the second Swedish king by the name of Carl. King Carl VIII is a posthumous invention and it was not contemporary to his time. His regnal number “VIII” was dirrived counting backwards from King Charles IX (r. 1604–1611) who adopted his numeral according to a fictitious history of Sweden.

The six others before King Charles VII (r. c. 1161-1167) are unknown to any sources before Johannes Magnus’s 16th century book Historia de omnibus gothorum sueonumque regibus, and are considered his invention. Carl was the first Swedish monarch of the name to actually use a regnal number as Carl II (later retrospectively renumbered VIII), on his queen’s tombstone (1451) at Vadstena.

Early life

Carl Knutsson was born in October 1408 or 1409, at Ekholmen Castle, the son of Knut Tordsson (Bonde), knight and member of the privy council (riksråd), and Margareta Karlsdotter, the only daughter and heiress of Carl Ulvsson, Lord of Tofta. His father Knut was first cousin of Erik Johansson Vasa’s father.

In 1434 Carl Knutsson became a member of the Privy Council of Sweden and in October of the same year he assumed one of its most senior offices, Lord High Constable of Sweden, or Riksmarsk. At this time Sweden was ruled by Eric of Pomerania (c.1381/1382-1459) was the ruler of the Kalmar Union from 1396 until 1439. He succeeded his grandaunt, Queen Margrethe I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Eric of Pomerania is numbered Eric III as King of Norway (1389–1442), Eric VII as King of Denmark (1396–1439) and Eric XIII as King of Sweden (1396–1434, 1436–39). Later, in all three countries he became more commonly known as Eric of Pomerania which was a pejorative term intended to point out that he belonged elsewhere.

Eric of Pomerania

Because of the growing dissatisfaction with King Eric of Pomerania among the Swedish nobility, Carl was in 1436 made Rikshövitsman, an office equating to Military Governor of the Realm, and finally replaced the king as an elected regent from 1438 to 1440, as the result of the rebellion by Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson.

During Carl’s brief regentship, the so-called Rebellion of David (a peasant rebellion) took place in Finland. Eric of Pomerania was forced to step down from the throne and in 1440 Christopher of Bavaria, was elected king of Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Christopher of Bavaria was the son of Johann, Count Palatine of Neumarkt (1383–1443) and Catherine of Pomerania (c. 1390–1426). Catherine was the daughter of Wartislaw VII, Duke of Pomerania in Pomerania-Stolp, and sister of the Scandinavian king, Eric of Pomerania. Count Palatine Johann was a son of King Ruprecht of Germany (1352–1410). 1352-1410), a member of the House of Wittelsbach, was Elector Palatine from 1398 (as Ruprecht III) and King of Germany (rex Romanorum) from 1400 until his death.

Christopher of Bavaria (1416-1448) was King of Denmark (1440–48, as Christopher III), Sweden (1441–48) and Norway (1442–48) during the era of the Kalmar Union.

Christopher III of Denmark, Norway and Sweden

At the coronation of Christopher of Bavaria as King of Sweden, in September 1441, Carl was dubbed a knight and appointed Lord High Justiciar of Sweden.

King of Sweden

At the death of Christopher in 1448, without a direct heir, which created a power vacuum, Carl Knutsson was elected King of Sweden on June 20, and on June 28, he was hailed as the new monarch at the Stones of Mora, not far from Uppsala, mostly due to his own military troops being present at the place, against the wishes of regents Bengt and Nils Jönsson (Oxenstierna).

However, in September 1448 the counts of Holstein made the Danish Privy Council elect Christian, Count of Oldenburg as King of Denmark. Christian was also Duke of Schleswig (within Denmark) and count (after 1474, duke) of Holstein (within the Holy Roman Empire). He was the first king of the House of Oldenburg. Christian was the eldest son of Count Dietrich of Oldenburg by his second wife, Helvig of Holstein

A rivalry ensued between Carl VIII and Christian for the throne of Norway, which had also been ruled by Christopher, with both kings gaining support from various factions in the Norwegian Council of the realm. In 1449 a portion of the Norwegian council elected Carl VIII King of Norway, and he was crowned in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim on 20 November. However, Christian also continued pursuing his claim to Norway. The Swedish aristocracy was reluctant to back Carl VIII in a war against Denmark over Norway, and already in 1450, Carl was forced to relinquish the throne of Norway in favour of Christian.

Christian I, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and Count of Oldenburg.

From 1451, Sweden and Denmark were in state of war against each other. Because of devastating warring, a growing opposition against Carl emerged among the nobility in Sweden. The strongest opponent was the Swedish church which opposed Carl’s efforts to concentrate royal and secular power. Other opponents were the family group of Oxenstierna and the House of Vasa, which had been on the opposing side in the election of king and lost.

Later reigns

During the next 20 years, Carl VIII was deposed in Sweden twice, only to regain the throne and reign three times (1448–57, 1464–65, 1467–70).

In 1457, a rebellion took place, led by Archbishop Jöns Bengtsson (Oxenstierna) and a nobleman, Erik Axelsson Tott. Carl went into exile to Danzig (Gdańsk). The two leaders of the revolt took the regentship, and organized the election of Christian I of Denmark as king of Sweden (firstly in Turku, then in Stockholm).

In 1463, King Christian quarrelled with Archbishop Jöns Bengtsson because of his taxation policies. The Archbishop was imprisoned, which resulted in a rebellion by his relatives, and led to Christian being driven out of Sweden. Carl VIII was recalled by the rebels and returned at the head of a force of German and Polish mercenaries.

Upon arrival in Sweden he found also himself at war with Archbishop Jöns Bengtsson and after two bloody battles in the winter of 1464–1465 Carl VIII was again exiled. In 1467, the regent Erik Axelsson Tott, now having reverted to support Carl VIII once more had him crowned. Carl VIII then reigned for three years, sharing power with the Riksråd, until his death in Stockholm in May 1470.

Marriages

His first marriage, in 1428, to Birgitta Turesdotter (Bielke) (died 1436) gave him his daughter Christina, (Bonde) (ca 1432- before 1500), married 1446 to the noble, councillor, and courtier Erik Eriksson (Gyllenstierna). Carl VIII and Birgitta Turesdotter had one son, Ture Karlsson (Bonde) (died young before 1447).

Carl VIII’s second marriage, in 1438, was to Catherine Karlsdotter (Gumsehuvud, died in 1450) the daughter of the nobleman Karl Ormsson. This union produced his second daughter Magdalena, who married Ivar Axelsson (Tott). Before their marriage, dispensation was obtained from Pope Eugene IV (r.1431-1447), as Catherine was related to Carl’s first wife. This was to ensure that children born in the marriage would be regarded as legitimate.

Coat of Arms of Carl VIII of Sweden.

The marriage is described as very happy and resulted in nine children. It was said that “Their relationship had always been of the best kind”. Their second daughter, Magdalene, married Ivar Axelsson (Tott), an uncle of Ingeborg Tott.

Queen Catherine was described as beautiful and cheerful; she created a nice environment and a relaxed atmosphere at court, and she was forthcoming to those who came seeking audience.

In 1450, she became one of many who died of the plague in Stockholm, and was deeply mourned by the king. She was buried in 1451 in Vadstena Abbey.

Four sons died early, of his four daughters, two became nuns, one never married. His only married daughter was Magdalena of Sweden (1445-1495). In 1468–1470, her spouse Ivar Axelsson (Tott) was the promised successor of her father as regent.

Carl VIII also had two children by his third wife (and former mistress) Christina Abrahamsdotter, Anna and Carl. The parentage of Christina Abrahamsdotter is not known, but she is believed to have been the daughter of Abraham Pedersson, governor of Raseborg. At the time of their meeting King Carl VIII of Sweden got to know her during his exile in Finland 1457–1464. When Carl returned to Sweden in 1464 and reclaimed the Swedish throne, she followed him there as royal mistress. In 1465, they had a son together, Carl Karlsson (Bonde) (1465–1488)

In 1470, during the last year of his life, when Carl married Christina. She thereby became queen, and her son became legitimate. The exact date of the marriage is unknown. Traditionally, the wedding was to have taken place on his deathbed. The marriage took place on an unknown date during the spring of 1470, a few weeks before the death of Carl in May. The wedding is said to have taken place in Stockholm with 50 wedding witnesses. Their daughter, Anna Karlsdotter (Bonde), was married to the noble Håkan Svensson (Bölja), governor of Västerås castle.

Legacy

Carl VIII represented a growing nationalist tendency among the Swedish aristocracy which tried first to subjugate the other Scandinavian countries under Sweden but soon focused on dissolving the Kalmar Union. In the next century, when the union was finally dissolved, Carl received some respect as an early champion of Swedish independence.

Carl’s great-granddaughter Christina Nilsdotter Gyllenstierna was married to Sten Sture the Younger whose regentship of Sweden represented similar values: nationalism and Swedish independence.

Though the Bonde family, not descendants of Carl VIII himself but just his collateral relatives, remained prominent among the Swedish nobility and in politics into the 20th Century, Charles’s own descendants did not ascend nor inherit any thrones until Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg became Christian IX of Denmark in 1863. Carl VIII’s descendants have since ascended the thrones of Norway, Greece and Great Britain.

His distant direct descendant, Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha married the Hereditary Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, Duke of Västerbotten, in the 20th century, and with Sibylla and Gustaf Adolf‘s son, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Carl VIII’s blood returned to the Swedish throne.

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.

This date in history: December 18, 1626, birth of Queen Christina of Sweden

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Anna of Prussia, Brandenburg, Charles I of England, Charles II of England and Scotland, Elector of Brandenburg Holy Roman Empire, House of Vasa, King Gustaf II Adolph of Sweden, Kingdom of Sweden, Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, Queen Christina of Sweden, Sigismund III of Poland

Christina (December 18, 1626 – April 19, 1689), the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustaf II Adolph of Sweden and his wife Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, reigned as Queen of Sweden from 1632 until her abdication in 1654.

Queen Christina of Sweden’s ancestry.

Her mother was Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg (1599-1655) who was was the daughter of Johann Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, and Anna, Duchess of Prussia,

Maternal grandparents: John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg was the son Joachim III Friedrich, Elector of Brandenburg, and his first wife Catherine of Brandenburg-Küstrin.

Anna, Duchess of Prussia was the daughter of Albert Friedrich Duke of Prussia and Marie Eleonore of Cleves.

Her father was King Gustaf II Adolph of Sweden (1594-1632) the son of King Carl IX of Sweden and and his second wife, Christina of Holstein-Gottorp.

Paternal grandparents: King Carl IX of Sweden was the youngest son of King Gustaf I of Sweden and his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud.

Christina of Holstein-Gottorp was the daughter of Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and Christine of Hesse.

King Gustaf II Adolph of Sweden

In 1616, the 22-year-old Gustaf II Adolph of Sweden started looking for a Protestant bride. He had since 1613 tried to get his mother’s permission to marry the noblewoman Ebba Brahe, but this was not allowed, and he had to give up his wishes to marry her, though he continued to be in love with her. He received reports with the most flattering descriptions of the physical and mental qualities of the beautiful 17-year-old princess Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg. Elector Johann Sigismund of Brandenburg was favorably inclined towards the Swedish king, but he had become very infirm after an apoplectic stroke in the autumn of 1617.

Elector Johann Sigismund of Brandenburg’s determined Prussian wife, wife Catherine of Brandenburg-Küstrin, showed a strong dislike for this Swedish suitor, because Prussia was a Polish fief and the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa still resented his loss of Sweden to Gustaf II Adolph’s father Carl IX.

Maria Eleonora had additional suitors in the young Willem II, Prince of Orange, Wladislaw Vasa of Poland, Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg and even the future Charles I of England. Maria Eleonora’s brother Elector Georg Wilhelm was flattered by the offer of the British Prince of Wales and proposed their younger sister Catherine (1602–1644) as a more suitable wife for the Swedish king.

Maria Eleonora, however, seems to have had a preference for Gustaf Adolph. For Gustaf Adolph it was a matter of honour to acquire the hand of Maria Eleonora and none other. He had the rooms of his castle in Stockholm redecorated and started making preparations to leave for Berlin to press his suit in person, when a letter arrived from Maria Eleonora’s mother to his mother.

Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg

The Electress Anna demanded in no uncertain terms that the Queen Dowager Christina should prevent her son’s journey, as “being prejudicial to Brandenburg’s interests in view of the state of war existing between Sweden and Poland”. Her husband, she wrote, was “so enfeebled in will by illness that he could be persuaded to agree to anything, even if it tended to the destruction of the country”. It was a rebuff that verged on an insult.

The Elector Johann Sigismund, Maria Eleonora’s father, died on December 23, 1619, and the prospect of a Swedish marriage seemed gone with him. In the spring of 1620, however, stubborn Gustaf Adolph arrived in Berlin. The Electress Dowager maintained an attitude of reserve and even refused to grant the Swedish king a personal meeting with Maria Eleonora. All those who were present, however, noticed the princess’s interest in the young king.

Afterwards, Gustaf Adolph made a round of other Protestant German courts with the professed intention of inspecting a few matrimonial alternatives. On his return to Berlin, the Electress Dowager seems to have become completely captivated by the charming Swedish king. After plighting his troth to Maria Eleonora Gustaf Adolph hurried back to Sweden to make arrangements for the reception of his bride.

The new Elector, Georg Wilhelm who resided in Prussia, was appalled when he heard of his mother’s independent action. He wrote to Gustaf Adolph to refuse his consent to the marriage until Sweden and Poland had settled their differences. It was the Electress Dowager, however, who, in accordance with Hohenzollern family custom, had the last word in bestowing her daughter’s hand in marriage. She sent Maria Eleonora to territory outside of Georg Wilhelm’s reach and concluded the marriage negotiations herself.

Queen Christina of Sweden

The wedding took place in Stockholm on November 25, 1620. A comedy was performed based on the history of Olof Skötkonung. Gustaf Adolph – in his own words – finally “had a Brandenburg lady in his marriage bed”. Anna of Prussia actually stayed with her daughter in Sweden for several years after the marriage.

Within six months of their marriage, Gustaf Adolph left to command the siege of Riga, leaving Maria Eleonora in the early stages of her first pregnancy. She lived exclusively in the company of her German ladies-in-waiting and had difficulty in adapting herself to the Swedish people, countryside and climate. She disliked the bad roads, sombre forests and wooded houses, roofed with turf. She also pined for her husband. A year after their wedding she had a miscarriage and became seriously ill.

In the autumn of 1623 Maria Eleonora gave birth to a daughter, named Christina, but the baby died the next year. At that time, the only surviving male heirs to the Swedish throne was the hated Vasa King Sigismund III of Poland and his sons. With Gustaf Adolph risking his life in battles, an heir to the throne was anxiously awaited. In the autumn Maria Eleonora was pregnant for a third time. In May 1625 she was in good spirits and insisted on accompanying her husband on the royal yacht to review the fleet.

There seemed to be no danger, as the warships were moored just opposite the castle, but a sudden storm nearly capsized the yacht. The queen was hurried back to the castle, but when she got there she was heard to exclaim: “Jesus, I cannot feel my child!” Shortly afterwards the longed-for son was stillborn.

Birth of Christina

With the renewal of the war with Poland, Gustaf Adolph had to leave his wife again. It is likely that she gave way to depression and grief, as we know she did in 1627, and it is probably for this reason that the king let his queen join him in Livonia after the Poles had been defeated in January 1626. By April, Maria Eleonora found she was again pregnant. No risks were taken this time and the astrologers predicted the birth of a son and heir. During a lull in the warfare, Gustaf Adolph urried back to Stockholm to await the arrival of the baby. The birth was a difficult one.

On December 18, a baby was born with a fleece (lanugo), which enveloped it from its head to its knees, leaving only its face, arms and lower part of its legs free. Moreover, the baby had a large nose and was covered with hair. Thus, it was assumed the baby was a boy, and so the King was told. Closer inspection, however, determined that the baby was a girl. Gustaf Adolph’s half-sister Catherine informed him that the child was a girl. She “carried the baby in her arms to the king in a condition for him to see and to know and realise for himself what she dared not tell him”. Gustaf Adolph remarked: “She is going to be clever, for she has taken us all in.”

His disappointment did not last long, and he decided that she would be called Christina after his mother. He gave orders for the birth to be announced with all the solemnity usually accorded to the arrival of a male heir. This seems to indicate that Gustaf Adolph, at the age of 33, had little hope of having other children. Maria Eleonora’s state of health seems to be the most likely explanation for this. Her later portraits and actions, however, do not indicate that she was physically fragile.

Shortly after the birth, Maria Eleonora was in no condition to be told the truth about the baby’s gender and the king and court waited several days before breaking the news to her. She screamed: “Instead of a son, I am given a daughter, dark and ugly, with a great nose and black eyes. Take her from me, I will not have such a monster!” She may have suffered from a post-natal depression. In her agitated state, the queen tried to injure the child.

November 30, 1718: Death of King Carl XII of Sweden.

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Carl XI of Sweden, Charles XII of Sweden, Frederick I of Sweden, Frederick of Hesse-Cassel, Kingdom of Sweden, The Great Northern War, Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden

Carl XII (June 17, 1682 – November 30, 1718) was the King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of Wittelsbach. Carl XII was the only surviving son of Carl XI and Ulrika Eleonora the Elder, the daughter of King Frederik III of Denmark and Norway and his spouse Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Carl XII assumed power, after a seven-month caretaker government, at the age of fifteen.

King Carl XII of Sweden, aged 15.

In 1700, a triple alliance of Denmark–Norway, Saxony–Poland–Lithuania and Russia launched a threefold attack on the Swedish protectorate of Holstein-Gottorp and provinces of Livonia and Ingria, aiming to draw advantage as the Swedish Empire was unaligned and ruled by a young and inexperienced king, thus initiating the Great Northern War.

Carl never married and fathered no children of whom historians are aware. In his youth he was particularly encouraged to find a suitable spouse in order to secure the succession, but he would frequently avoid the subject of sex and marriage. Possible candidates included Princess Sophia Hedwig of Denmark and Princess Maria Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp – but of the latter he pleaded that he could never wed someone “as ugly as Satan and with such a devilish big mouth”.

Carl was an exceptionally skilled military leader and tactician as well as an able politician, credited with introducing important tax and legal reforms. As for his famous reluctance towards peace efforts, he is quoted by Voltaire as saying upon the outbreak of the war; “I have resolved never to start an unjust war but never to end a legitimate one except by defeating my enemies”.

Carl XII of Sweden

Death.

While in the trenches close to the perimeter of the fortress on November 30, 1718, Carl was struck in the head by a projectile and killed. The shot struck the left side of his skull and exited from the right. The shock of the impact caused the king to grasp his sword with his right hand, and cover the wound with his left hand, leaving his gloves covered in blood.

The definitive circumstances around Carl’s death remain unclear. Despite multiple investigations of the battlefield, Carl’s skull and his clothes, it is not known where and when he was hit, or whether the shot came from the ranks of the enemy or from his own men. There are several hypotheses as to how Carl died, though none can be given with any certainty. Although there were many people around the king at the time of his death, there were no known witnesses to the actual moment he was struck.

A likely explanation has been that Carl was killed by the Dano-Norwegians as he was within easy reach of their guns. There are two possibilities that are usually cited: that he was killed by a musket shot, or that he was killed by grapeshot from the nearby fortress.

From the autopsy of Charles XII in 1917

More sinister theories claim he was assassinated: One is that the killer was a Swedish compatriot and asserts that enemy guns were not firing at the time Carl was struck. Suspects in this claim range from a nearby soldier tired of the siege and wanting to put an end to the war, to an assassin hired by Carl’s own brother-in-law, who profited from the event by subsequently taking the throne himself as Frederick I of Sweden, that person being Frederick’s aide-de-camp, André Sicre. Sicre confessed during what was claimed to be a state of delirium brought on by fever but later recanted.

It has also been suspected that a plot to kill Carl may have been put in place by a group of wealthy Swedes who would benefit from the blocking of a 17% wealth tax that Charles intended to introduce. In the Varberg Fortress museum there is a display with a lead filled brass button – Swedish – that is claimed by some to be the projectile that killed the king.

He was succeeded by his sister Ulrika Eleonora, who in turn was coerced to hand over all substantial powers to the Riksdag of the Estates and opted to surrender the throne to her husband, who became King Frederick I of Sweden, the son of Karl I, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel and Princess Maria Amalia of Courland.

This date in History. August 21, 1810: Election of Jean Baptiste Bernadotte as Crown Prince of Sweden.

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Carl XIII of Sweden, Carl XIV Johan of Sweden, Crown Prince, Crown Prince of Sweden, Emperor of the French, French Empire, Jean BaptisterBernadotte, Kingdom of Denmark, Kingdom of Norway, Kingdom of Sweden, Napoleon Bonaparte

Jean Baptiste Bernadotte was born in Pau, France, as the son of Jean Henri Bernadotte (Pau, Béarn, October 14, 1711 – Pau, March 31, 1780), prosecutor at Pau, and his wife (married at Boeil, February 20, 1754) Jeanne de Saint-Jean (Pau, April 1, 1728 – Pau, January 8, 1809), niece of the Lay Abbot of Sireix. 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.

Jean Baptiste Bernadotte. King Carl XIV Johan of Sweden.

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. At the age of 14, he was apprenticed to a local attorney. However, the death of his father when Bernadotte was just 17 stopped the youth from following his father’s career.

In order to explain how the French Jean Baptiste Bernadotte became Crown Prince, and later King Carl XIV Johan of Sweden, here is some background information on the state of the Swedish monarchy at that time.

Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden

In 1808, Gustav IV Adolf was highly unpopular and his uncle, Duke Carl, was once again chief commander during the king’s stay in Finland. He is presumed to have been, if not involved, aware of the plans to depose Gustav IV Adolf in 1809. He kept passive during the Coup of 1809, and accepted the post of regent from the victorious party after having assured himself that the deposed monarch was not in mortal danger.[5]Carl was initially not willing to accept the crown, however, out of consideration for the former king’s son, his 11 year old nephew, Prince Gustav, Count Itterburg (1799-1877).

On March 13, 1809, those who had dethroned Gustav IV Adolf appointed Carl regent, and he was finally elected King of Sweden as Carl XIII by the Riksdag of the Estates. By the time he became king, he was 60 years old and prematurely decrepit. In November 1809, he was affected by a heart attack, and was not able to participate in government. The new constitution which was introduced also made his involvement in politics difficult. A planned attempt to enlarge the royal power in 1809–10 was not put into effect because of his indecisiveness and health condition.

Carl XIII of Sweden

His incapacity triggered a search for a suitable heir. The problem of Carl’s successor actually had been an accute issue almost from the time he had ascended the throne as it was apparent that the Swedish branch of the House of Holstein-Gottorp would die with him. He was 61 years old and in poor health. He was also childless; Queen Charlotte had given birth to two children who had died in infancy, and there was no prospect of her bearing another child. The initial choice for his successor was a Danish prince, Christian August, the son of Friedrich Christian I, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (1721–1794) and Princess Charlotte of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön (1744–1770). Christian August took the name Carl August upon being adopted by Carl XIII.

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 of Sweden.

Although the king had adopted the Danish prince, Charles August, as his son soon after his coronation, Emperor Napoleon favored his ally Danish King Frederik VI, as the new heir to the Swedish throne but he declined the offer. Danish Prince Frederick Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (older brother of Carl August, the eventual choice for Swedish Crown Prince) initially had the most support to become Swedish Crown Prince as well.

The Swedish court initially sounded out the emperor for his preferences on candidates for crown prince, whereupon Napoleon made it clear he also preferred his son-in-law Eugène de Beauharnais, one of his nephews or one of his brothers. However, 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 was 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 died prematurely.

The matter was decided by an obscure Swedish courtier, son of Baron Gustav Mörner, a commander of the Swedish force captured by Bernadotte at Lübeck, Baron Karl Otto Mörner, who, entirely on his own initiative, offered the succession to the Swedish crown to Bernadotte. Bernadotte communicated Mörner’s offer to Napoleon who at first treated the situation as an absurdity, but later came around to the idea and diplomatically and financially supported Bernadotte’s candidacy.

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. Bernadotte was elected partly because a large part of the Swedish Army, in view of future complications with Russia, were in favour of electing a soldier, and partly because he was also personally popular, owing to the kindness he had shown to the Swedish prisoners in Lübeck.mAnother factor which favored Bernadotte’s election was his (presumed) close ties to French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who had recently defeated Sweden in the Franco-Swedish War.

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.

Upon the death of King Carl XIII on February 5, 1818, Crown Prince Carl Johan ascended as the union King, reigning as Carl XIV Johan in Sweden and Carl III Johan in Norway. In 1814 Sweden acquired Norway from Denmark. He was initially popular in both countries.

This date in History, August 19, 1772: Coup of Gustav III of Sweden.

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Cathereine the Great, Denmark, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Frederik Adolf of Sweden, Gustav III of Sweden, Kingdom of Sweden, Parliament, Riksdag, Sophie Magdalena of Denmark, Sweden

The Revolution of 1772, also known as the Coup of Gustav III was a Swedish coup d’état performed by king Gustav III of Sweden on August 19, 1772 to introduce absolute monarchy against the Riksdag of the Estates, resulting in the end of the Age of libertyand the introduction of the Swedish Constitution of 1772.

First, a little personal information on the King of Sweden.

Gustav III (January 24, 1746 – March 29 1792) was King of Sweden from February 12, 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederik, King of Sweden and Queen Louise Ulrika (a sister of King Friedrich II the Great of Prussia), and a first cousin of Empress Catherine II the Great of Russia by reason of their common descent from Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin, and his wife Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach.

Gustav married Princess Sophia Magdalena, by proxy in Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen, on October 1, 1766 and in person in Stockholm on November 4, 1766. Princess Sophia Magdalena was the daughter of King Frederik V of Denmar-Norway and his first wife Princess Louise of Great Britain the youngest surviving daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach.

Gustav was first impressed by Sophia Magdalena’s beauty, but her silent nature made her a disappointment in court life. The match was not a happy one, owing partly to an incompatibility of temperament, but still more to the interference of Gustav’s jealous mother, Queen Louisa Ulrika. The marriage produced two children: Crown Prince Gustav Adolf (1778–1837), (future King Gustav IV Adolf) and Prince Carl Gustav, Duke of Småland(1782–1783).

Gustav III was known in Sweden and abroad by his Royal Titles, or styles:

Gustav III, by the Grace of God, of the Swedes, the Goths and the Vends King, Grand Prince of Finland, Duke of Pomerania, Prince of Rügen and Lord of Wismar, Heir to Norway and Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn and Dithmarschen, Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhors.

Revolution of 1772

Gustav III was a vocal opponent of what he saw as the abuse of political privileges seized by the nobility since the death of King Carl XII. At the time of his accession, the Swedish Riksdag held more power than the monarchy, but the Riksdag was bitterly divided between rival parties, the Hats and Caps. On his return to Sweden, Gustav III tried unsuccessfully to mediate between the bitterly divided parties. On June 21, 1771, he opened his first Riksdag with a speech that aroused powerful emotions. It was the first time in more than a century that a Swedish king had addressed a Swedish Riksdag in its native tongue. He stressed the need for all parties to sacrifice their animosities for the common good, and volunteered, as “the first citizen of a free people,” to be the mediator between the contending factions.

A composition committee was actually formed, but it proved illusory from the first: the patriotism of neither faction was sufficient for the smallest act of self-denial. The subsequent attempts of the dominant Caps to reduce him to being a powerless king encouraged him to consider a coup d’état. Under the sway of the Cap faction, Sweden seemed in danger of falling prey to the political ambitions of Russia. It appeared on the point of being absorbed into the Northern Accord sought by the Russian vice-chancellor, Count Nikita Panin. It seemed to many that only a swift and sudden coup d’état could preserve Sweden’s independence.

(King Gustav III of Sweden and his Brothers; Gustav III (left) and his two brothers, Prince Frederik Adolf and Prince Carl, later Carl XIII of Sweden. Painting by Alexander Roslin.)

Gustav III was approached by Jacob Magnus Sprengtporten, a Finnish nobleman, who had incurred the enmity of the Caps, with the prospect of a revolution. He undertook to seize the fortress of Sveaborg in Finland by a coup de main. Once Finlandwas secured, he intended to embark for Sweden, join up with the king and his friends near Stockholm, and force the estatesto accept a new constitution dictated by the king.
At this juncture, the plotters were reinforced by Johan Christopher Toll another victim of Cap oppression.

Toll proposed to raise a second revolt in the province of Scania, and to secure the southern fortress of Kristianstad. After some debate, it was agreed that Kristianstad should openly declare against the government a few days after the Finnish revolt had begun. Duke Carl, the eldest of the king’s brothers, would thereupon be forced to mobilize the garrisons of all the southern fortresses hastily, ostensibly to crush the revolt at Kristianstad, but on arriving in front of the fortress, he was to make common cause with the rebels and march upon the capital from the south while Sprengtporten attacked it simultaneously from the east.

On August 6, 1772, Toll succeeded in winning the fortress of Kristianstad by sheer bluff, and on August 16, Sprengtporten succeeded in surprising Sveaborg, but contrary winds prevented him from crossing to Stockholm. Events soon occurred there that made his presence unnecessary in any case.

On August 16, the Cap leader, Ture Rudbeck, arrived at Stockholm with news of the insurrection in the south, and Gustav found himself isolated in the midst of enemies. Sprengtporten lay weather-bound in Finland, Toll was 500 miles away, the Hat leaders were in hiding. Gustav thereupon resolved to strike the decisive blow without waiting for Sprengtporten’s arrival.

He acted promptly. On the evening of August 18, all the officers whom he thought he could trust received secret instructions to assemble in the great square facing the arsenal on the following morning. At ten o’clock on August 19, Gustav III mounted his horse and rode to the arsenal. On the way, his adherents joined him in little groups, as if by accident, so that by the time he reached his destination he had about 200 officers in his suite.

After parade he reconducted them to the guard-room in the north western wing of the palace where the Guard of Honour had its headquarters and unfolded his plans to them. He told the assembled officers,

“If you follow me, just like your ancestors followed Gustav Vasa and Gustavus Adolphus, then I will risk my life and blood for you and the salvation of the fatherland!”
A young ensign then spoke up:

“We are willing to sacrifice both blood and life in Your Majesty’s service!”

Gustav then dictated a new oath of allegiance, and everyone signed it without hesitation. It absolved them from their allegiance to the estates, and bound them solely to obey “their lawful king, Gustav III”.

Meanwhile, the Privy Council and its president, Rudbeck, had been arrested and the fleet secured. Then Gustav made a tour of the city and was everywhere received by enthusiastic crowds, who hailed him as a deliverer. A song was composed by Carl Michael Bellman called the “Toast to King Gustav!”

Now in full control of the government the king initiated a campaign to restore a measure of Royal autocracy, which was completed by the Union and Security Act of 1789, which swept away most of the powers exercised by the Swedish Riksdag (parliament) but at the same time it opened up the government for all citizens. This reinforced monarchical authority significantly, although the estates retained the power of the purse, it did hereby broke the privileges of the nobility.

The next day, August 20, 1772 a new constitution was imposed upon the Riksdag of the Estates by Gustav III which converted a weak and disunited republic into a strong but limited monarchy. The estates could assemble only when summoned by him; he could dismiss them whenever he thought fit; and their deliberations were to be confined exclusively to the propositions which he laid before them. But these extensive powers were subjected to important checks. Thus, without the previous consent of the estates, no new law could be imposed, no old law abolished, no offensive war undertaken, no extraordinary war subsidy levied. The estates alone could tax themselves; they had the absolute control of the Riksbank – the Bank of Sweden, and the right of controlling the national expenditure.

In 1789 the king further strengthened his power. The Union and Security Act, alternatively Act of Union and Security, was proposed by king Gustav III of Sweden to the assembled Estates of the Realm during the Riksdag of 1789. It was a document, adding to the Swedish Constitution of 1772 new provisions. The King strengthened his grip on power while at the same time riding on a popular wave that also meant a decrease in aristocratic power. It has been described as “fundamentally conservative”.

The Act of Union and Security gave the king the sole power to declare war and make peace instead of sharing the power with the estates and the Privy Council. The estates would lose the ability to initiate legislation, but they would keep the ability to vote on new taxes.

Another provision was that the King was enabled to determine the number of Privy Councillors and so he could abolish the Council altogether by determining their number to be zero. The judicial branch of the Privy Council (in Swedish: Justitierevisionen) was then transferred to a new Supreme Court.

Most noble privileges were abolished with the Act, with most offices now available to all regardless of rank. Noble lands could now be bought by anyone instead of only by nobles.