Charles XIV John of Sweden
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King of Sweden and Norway
Charles John of Sweden and Norway by Fredrik Westin
Reign 5 February 1818 – 8 March 1844
Coronation 11 May 1818 (Sweden)
7 September 1818 (Norway)
Predecessor Charles XIII
Successor Oscar I
Spouse Désirée Clary
Issue
Oscar I
Full name
Jean-Baptiste Jules
House House of Bernadotte
Father Henri Bernadotte
Mother Jeanne de St. Vincent
Born 26 January 1763(1763-01-26)
Pau, France
Died 8 March 1844 (aged 81)
Stockholm, Sweden
Burial Riddarholmskyrkan, Stockholm
Charles XIV & III John, also Carl John, Swedish and Norwegian: Karl Johan (26 January 1763 – 8 March 1844) was King of Sweden (as Charles XIV John) and King of Norway (as Charles III John) from 1818 until his death. In his family, he was also the first Sovereign Prince of Pontecorvo, in Southern Italy.
He was born Jean Bernadotte, distinguished from a namesake brother by the addition of Baptiste and had the full name of Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte by the time Karl also was added upon his Swedish adoption in 1810. He did not use Bernadotte in Sweden but founded the royal dynasty there by that name.
French by birth, Bernadotte served a long career in the French Army. He was appointed as a Marshal of France by Napoleon I, though the two had a turbulent relationship. His service to France ended in 1810, when he was elected the heir to the Swedish throne because the old Swedish royal family was dying out with King Charles XIII. Baron Carl Otto Mörner(22 May 1781 - 17 August 1868) was a Swedish courtier, and obscure member of the Diet, advocated for the succession.
Early life and family
Bernadotte was born in Pau, France, as the son of Jean Henri Bernadotte (Pau, Béarn, 14 October 1711 – Pau, 31 March 1780), procurator at Pau, and wife (married at Boëil-Bezing, 20 February 1754) Jeanne de Saint-Vincent (Pau, 1 April 1728 – Pau, 8 January 1809). The family name was originally de Pouey, but was changed to Bernadotte - a surname of an ancestress - at the beginning of the 17th century. His brother Jean Bernadotte (Pau, 1754 – Pau, 8 August 1813) was eventually made 1st Baron Bernadotte and married Marie Anne Charlotte de Saint-Paul. Bernadotte himself added Jules to his first names later, from Julius Caesar, in the classicizing spirit of the French Revolution.
Ancestry
His paternal grandparents were Jean Bernadotte (Pau, 29 September 1683 – Pau, 3 October 1760) and wife (m. Pau, 1 May 1707) Marie du Pucheu dite de La Place (Pau, 6 February 1686 – Pau, 5 October 1773), daughter of Jacques du Pucheu dit de La Place and wife Françoise de Labasseur. Their maternal grandparents were Jean de Saint-Vincent (Boëil-Bezing, c. 1690 – Boëil-Bezing, 21 May 1762) and wife (m. Assat, 30 May 1719) Marie d'Abbadie de Sireix (Sireix, 25 March 1694 – Boëil-Bezing, 16 October 1752), daughter of Doumengé Habas d'Arrens and wife Marie d'Abbadie, Lay Abbess of Sireix. Finally, they were the great-grandsons of Jean Bernadotte (Pau, 7 November 1649 – Pau, 14 July 1689) and wife (m. Pau, 18 June 1674) Marie de la Barrère-Bertandot; he was in turn the son of Pierre Bernadotte and wife Margalide Barraquer and paternal grandson of Joandou du Poey, born in 1590, and wife Germaine de Bernadotte.
Marriage
At Sceaux on 16 August 1798 he married Eugénie Bernhardine Désirée Clary, the daughter of a Marseille silk merchant, and sister of Joseph Bonaparte's wife Julie Clary - Eugenie had previously been engaged to Napoleon. Bernadotte and Eugénie had an only son, Oscar I of Sweden and Norway.
Military career
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Bernadotte joined the army as a private in the Régiment de Royal-Marine on 3 September 1780, and first served in the newly-conquered territory of Corsica.He was for a long time stationed in Collioure in the South of France and was after eight years promoted to sergeant. Following the outbreak of the French Revolution, his eminent military qualities brought him speedy promotion. He was promoted to colonel in 1792 and by 1794 was a brigadier attached to the army of the Sambre et Meuse. After Jourdan's victory at Fleurus (26 June 1794) he became a general of division. At the Battle of Theiningen (1796), Bernadotte contributed, more than anyone else, to the successful retreat of the French army over the Rhine after its defeat by the Archduke Charles of Austria. In 1797 he brought reinforcements from the Rhine to Bonaparte's army in Italy, distinguishing himself greatly at the passage of the Tagliamento, and in 1798 served as ambassador to Vienna, but had to quit his post owing to the disturbances caused by his hoisting the tricolour over the embassy.
From 2 July to 14 September he was Minister of War, in which capacity he displayed great ability. He declined to help Napoleon Bonaparte stage his coup d'état of November 1799, but nevertheless accepted employment from the Consulate, and from April 1800 to 18 August 1801 commanded the army in the Vendée.
On the introduction of the French Empire, Bernadotte became one of the Marshals of the Empire and, from June 1804 to September 1805, served as governor of Hanover. During the campaign of 1805, Bernadotte with an army corps from Hanover, co-operated in the great movement which resulted in the shutting off of Mack in Ulm. As a reward for his services at Austerlitz (2 December 1805) he became the 1st Sovereign Prince of Ponte Corvo (5 June 1806), but during the campaign against Prussia, in the same year, was severely reproached by Napoleon for not participating with his army corps in the battles of Jena and Auerstädt, though close at hand. In 1808, as governor of the Hanseatic towns, he was to have directed the expedition against Sweden, via the Danish islands, but the plan came to naught because of the want of transports and the defection of the Spanish contingent. In the war against Austria, Bernadotte led the Saxon contingent at the Battle of Wagram (6 July 1809), on which occasion, on his own initiative, he issued an Order of the Day attributing the victory principally to the valour of his Saxons, which order Napoleon at once disavowed. It was during the middle of that battle that Marshal Bernadotte was stripped of his command after retreating contrary to Napoleon's orders.Napoleon once commented after a battle that "Bernadotte hesitates at nothing"On St. Helena he also said that, "I can accuse him of ingratitude but not treason."