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Bernadotte
 

The House of Bernadotte, the current Royal House of the Kingdom of Sweden, has reigned since 1818. Between 1818 and 1905 it was also the Royal House of Norway.

Following the Finnish War in 1809, Sweden suffered the traumatic loss of Finland, which had constituted the eastern half of the Swedish realm. The agony and resentment towards King Gustav IV Adolf precipitated a coup d'état, and Gustav Adolf's uncle, the childless Charles XIII, replaced him. This was merely a temporary solution, and in 1810 the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates elected the Danish Prince Christian August as heir to the throne. As Swedish crown prince he took the name Charles August (Karl August); however, he died later that same year.

As Napoleon I of France was Emperor of the French, and ruled, directly or indirectly, over much of Continental Europe through a network of client kingdoms headed by his brothers (see Napoleonic Empire; i.e., Jerome Bonaparte, King of Westphalia; Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain; Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland), the Swedish parliament saw it practical to elect a king who Napoleon could accept. On August 21, 1810, the Riksdag elected Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France, as heir apparent to the Swedish throne.

Bernadotte, born in the town of Pau, in the province of Béarn, France, rose to the rank of general during the tumultuous years of the French Revolution. In 1798 he married Désirée Clary, thereby becoming the brother-in-law of Joseph, Napoleon's elder brother. In 1804 Napoleon promoted him to a Marshal of France, and later granted him the title 'Prince of Ponte Corvo', a town in southern Italy.

As the Crown Prince of Sweden he assumed the name Charles John (Karl Johan), acted officially as regent for the remainder of Charles XIII's reign and secured a forced personal union between Sweden and Norway in the 1814 Campaign against Norway. Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte reigned as King Charles XIV of Sweden and Carl III Johan of Norway from February 5, 1818 until his death on March 8, 1844.

The House of Bernadotte reigned in both countries until the separation of Norway from Sweden in 1905. A descendant of the House of Bernadotte, Prince Carl of Denmark, was then elected as Norway's new king.

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

Kings of Sweden

Kings of Norway

Family tree (only royal parts)

See also

Preceded by:
The House of
Holstein-Gottorp 		List of Swedish monarchs Succeeded by:
Still reigning
List of Norwegian monarchs Succeeded by:
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

Bernadotte | Swedish dynasties | Swedish nobility

Bernadotte | Bernadotte | Bernadotte'i dünastia | Casa de Bernadotte | Maison Bernadotte | Bernadotte | Bernadotte-ház | Bernadotte | ベルナドッテ王朝 | Huset Bernadotte | Bernadotte | Bernadotte | Бернадоты | Bernadotte

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Bernadotte".

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