Charles XV & IV also
Carl (
Carl Ludvig Eugen);
SwedishSwedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
and
NorwegianNorwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
:
Karl (3 May 1826 – 18 September 1872) was King of Sweden (
Charles XV) and Norway (
Charles IV) from 1859 until his death.
Though known as King Charles XV in Sweden, he was actually the ninth Swedish king by that name, as his predecessor
Charles IXCharles IX of Sweden also Carl, was King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, brother of Eric XIV and John III of Sweden, and uncle of Sigismund III Vasa king of both Sweden and Poland...
(reigned 1604–1611) had adopted a numeral according to a fictitious history of Sweden.
Biography
He was born in
Stockholm PalaceThe Stockholm Palace is the official residence and major royal palace of the Swedish monarch. . Stockholm Palace is located on Stadsholmen , in Gamla Stan in the capital, Stockholm...
,
StockholmStockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, and dubbed Duke of Skåne at birth. He was the eldest son of King
Oscar IOscar I was King of Sweden and Norway from 1844 to his death. When, in August 1810, his father Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was elected Crown Prince of Sweden, Oscar and his mother moved from Paris to Stockholm . Oscar's father was the first ruler of the current House of Bernadotte...
and
Josephine of LeuchtenbergJoséphine of Leuchtenberg was Queen consort of Sweden and Norway as the wife of King Oscar I...
. He was given his first officer's commission in 1841 by his grandfather,
Charles XIV JohnCharles XIV & III John, also Carl John, Swedish and Norwegian: Karl Johan was King of Sweden and King of Norway from 1818 until his death...
. After his father's accession to the throne in 1844, he was made a chancellor of the universities of
UppsalaUppsala University is a research university in Uppsala, Sweden, and is the oldest university in Scandinavia, founded in 1477. It consistently ranks among the best universities in Northern Europe in international rankings and is generally considered one of the most prestigious institutions of...
and
LundLund University , located in the city of Lund in the province of Scania, Sweden, is one of northern Europe's most prestigious universities and one of Scandinavia's largest institutions for education and research, frequently ranked among the world's top 100 universities...
, and in 1853 chancellor of
Royal Swedish Academy of ArtsThe Royal Swedish Academy of Arts or Kungl. Akademien för de fria konsterna, founded in 1773 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden...
. On February 11, 1846, he was made an honorary member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesThe Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2...
.
The Crown Prince was Viceroy of Norway briefly in 1856 and 1857. He became Regent on 25 September 1857, and king on the death of his father on 8 July 1859. As grandson of Augusta of Bavaria, he was a descendant of
Gustav I of SwedenGustav I of Sweden, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known simply as Gustav Vasa , was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death....
and
Charles IX of SwedenCharles IX of Sweden also Carl, was King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, brother of Eric XIV and John III of Sweden, and uncle of Sigismund III Vasa king of both Sweden and Poland...
, whose blood returned to the throne after being lost in 1818 when
Charles XIII of SwedenCharles XIII & II also Carl, , was King of Sweden from 1809 and King of Norway from 1814 until his death...
died.
On 19 June 1850 he married in Stockholm Louise of the Netherlands, niece of
William II of the NetherlandsWilliam II was King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Duke of Limburg from 7 October 1840 until his death in 1849.- Early life and education :...
through
her fatherPrince Frederick of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau , was the second son of king William I of the Netherlands and his wife, Wilhelmine of Prussia....
and niece of
William I of PrussiaWilliam I, also known as Wilhelm I , of the House of Hohenzollern was the King of Prussia and the first German Emperor .Under the leadership of William and his Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Prussia achieved the unification of Germany and the...
,
German EmperorThe German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
, through
her motherPrincess Louise of Prussia was the third surviving daughter and ninth child of Frederick William III of Prussia and Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.-Marriage and issue:...
. The couple were personally quite dissimilar; Princess Louise was in love with her husband, whereas he preferred other women. His well-known mistresses included the countess
Josephine SparreJosephine Sophie Anette Charlotte Sparre af Söfdeborg, , called Jossan or Schossan, was a Swedish noble, lady-in-waiting and a royal mistress to King Charles XV of Sweden.- Biography :...
,
Wilhelmine SchröderWilhelmine Schröder was a Swedish telegraphist, writer, and journalist, and was also the confidant and royal mistress of King Charles XV of Sweden....
and the actresses
Hanna StyrellHanna Styrell, , was a Swedish actress, and the royal mistress of King Charles XV of Sweden.Styrell was born daughter of a baker in Stockholm and became an actress at the age of seventeen, when she performed in the inauguration of the Odéon Theatre in 1859 under the name Hanna Stjernblad.She...
and
Elise HwasserEbba Charlotta Elise Hwasser, née Jakobsson, , was a Swedish actress, the leading lady on the Swedish stage for thirty years, and often described as the greatest female dramatic star in Sweden during the Victorian era....
, the latter the most celebrated actress in Sweden during his reign, and the Crown Prince neglected his shy wife. On the other hand, his relationship to his only daughter,
Louise|align=right|Louise of Sweden was Queen of Denmark as the spouse of King Frederick VIII of Denmark. She was the only daughter of King Charles XV of Sweden and Louise of the Netherlands .-Early life:...
, was warm and close.
As Crown Prince, Charles' brusque manner led many to regard his future accession with some apprehension, yet he proved to be one of the most popular of Scandinavian kings and a constitutional ruler in the best sense of the word. His reign was remarkable for its manifold and far-reaching reforms. Sweden's existing communal law (1862), ecclesiastical law (1863) and criminal law (1864) were enacted appropriately enough under the direction of a king whose motto was:
Land skall med lag byggas - "With law shall the land be built". Charles also helped Louis De Geer to carry through his memorable reform of the
Parliament of SwedenThe Riksdag is the national legislative assembly of Sweden. The riksdag is a unicameral assembly with 349 members , who are elected on a proportional basis to serve fixed terms of four years...
in 1866. He also declared the freedom of women by passing the law of legal majority for unmarried women in 1858 - his sister
Princess EugeniePrincess Eugenie of Sweden and Norway was a member of the Royal House of Bernadotte and a dilettante artist.-Biography:...
became the first woman who was declared mature.
Charles was an advocate of
ScandinaviaScandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
nism and the political solidarity of the three northern kingdoms, and his friendship with
Frederick VII of DenmarkFrederick VII was a King of Denmark. He reigned from 1848 until his death. He was the last Danish monarch of the older Royal branch of the House of Oldenburg and also the last king of Denmark to rule as an absolute monarch...
, it is said, led him to give half promises of help to
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
on the eve of the war of 1864, which, in the circumstances, were perhaps misleading and unjustifiable. In view, however, of the unpreparedness of the Swedish army and the difficulties of the situation, Charles was forced to observe a strict neutrality. He died in
MalmöMalmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
on 18 September 1872.
Charles XV attained some eminence as a painter and as a poet. He was followed on both the thrones of Norway and Sweden by his brother
Oscar IIOscar II , baptised Oscar Fredrik was King of Sweden from 1872 until his death and King of Norway from 1872 until 1905. The third son of King Oscar I of Sweden and Josephine of Leuchtenberg, he was a descendant of Gustav I of Sweden through his mother.-Early life:At his birth in Stockholm, Oscar...
.
In 1855 he became the 990th
KnightA knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
of the
Order of the Golden FleeceThe Order of the Golden Fleece is an order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip III, Duke of Burgundy in 1430, to celebrate his marriage to the Portuguese princess Infanta Isabella of Portugal, daughter of King John I of Portugal. It evolved as one of the most prestigious orders in Europe...
in
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
A few weeks before Charles' death, his daughter Louise (then the Crown Princess of Denmark) gave birth to her second son. The young Prince of Denmark became christened as grandfather Charles' namesake. In 1905 this grandson, Prince Carl of Denmark, ascended the throne of Norway, becoming thus his maternal grandfather's successor in that country, and assumed the reign name
Haakon VIIHaakon VII may refer to:People* Haakon VII of Norway , King of Norway Ships* HNoMS King Haakon VII, a Royal Norwegian Navy escort ship in commission from 1942 to 1951...
. The present king,
Harald V of NorwayHarald V is the king of Norway. He succeeded to the throne of Norway upon the death of his father Olav V on 17 January 1991...
, is Charles' great-great-grandson, through his father and mother.
No subsequent king of Sweden to this day is Charles' descendant. However, his descendants are or have been on the thrones of Denmark, Luxembourg, Greece, Belgium and Norway.
Issue
| Name | |Death | Louise Josephine Eugenie|align=right|Louise of Sweden was Queen of Denmark as the spouse of King Frederick VIII of Denmark. She was the only daughter of King Charles XV of Sweden and Louise of the Netherlands .-Early life:...
| 31 October 1851 |
21 March 1926 |
married, 1869, Frederick VIII of DenmarkFrederick VIII was King of Denmark from 1906 to 1912.-Early life:Frederick was born on 3 June 1843 in the Yellow Palace in Copenhagen as Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a junior male line of the House of Oldenburg descended from Christian III of Denmark and who had...
; had issue |
| Carl Oscar Vilhelm Frederik Prince Carl Oscar Vilhelm Frederik of Sweden, was a prince of Sweden and Norway.-Biography:...
|
14 December 1852 |
13 March 1854 |
died in infancy |
| Carl Johan Bolander |
4 February 1854 |
28 July 1903 |
father of Bishop Nils Bolander; had issue |
Ancestry
External links