Editing Charles XV (section)

==Biography==
{{more citations needed section|date=July 2014}}
[[File:Ryttarporträtt av Kiörboe föreställande Karl XV, 1860 - Livrustkammaren - 5309.tif|thumb|left| An equestrian portrait of Charles XV, painted by [[Carl Fredrik Kiörboe]], circa 1860]]
[[File:Statue of Charles XV in Stockholm 01.JPG|thumb|left| Statue of Charles XV in Stockholm]]
[[File:Charles XV of Sweden and Prince Oscar with Adjutants.jpg|thumb|[[Adjutant]] [[Daniel Nordlander]] (upper left), with Adjutant [[Fritz von Dardel]], Ordonnance Officer [[Ferdinand-Alphonse Hamelin]], [[General]] [[Henri-Pierre Castelnau]], King Charles XV of Sweden and Prince Oscar, future King [[Oscar II of Sweden]], at the [[International Exposition (1867)]] in [[Paris]], [[France]].]]

===Early life===
He was born in [[Stockholm Palace]], [[Stockholm]], in 1826 and dubbed [[Scania#Dukes|Duke of Scania]] at birth. Born the eldest son of [[Oscar I of Sweden|Crown Prince Oscar of Sweden]] and his wife [[Josephine of Leuchtenberg|Crown Princess Josephine]], he would be second in line to the throne of his grandfather, the ruling King [[Charles XIV John of Sweden]]. During his childhood he was placed in the care of the royal governess, Countess Christina Ulrika Taube.<ref>Gustaf Elgenstierna, Den introducerade svenska adelns ättartavlor. 1925–36.</ref> When he was 15, he was given his first officer's commission in 1841 by his grandfather the king.

===Crown Prince===
The aging King Charles XIV John would suffer a stroke on his 81st birthday in 1844, dying little more than a month later. His successor would be his son, Charles's father Oscar, who ascended the throne as King Oscar I of Sweden. Upon his father's accession to the throne in 1844, the youth Charles was made a chancellor of the universities of [[Uppsala University|Uppsala]] and [[Lund University|Lund]], and in 1853 chancellor of [[Royal Swedish Academy of Arts]]. On 11 February 1846, he was made an honorary member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]].<ref>{{cite web|url=     https://nbl.snl.no/Karl_4|title= Karl 4, Konge (1826–1872)|publisher =  Norsk biografisk leksikon|author=Lars Roar Langslet|access-date= September 1, 2016}}</ref>

The Crown Prince was [[List of Prime Ministers of Norway|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.<ref name=EB1911/> As grandson of [[Augusta of Bavaria]], he was a descendant of [[Gustav I of Sweden]] and [[Charles IX of Sweden]], whose Vasa blood returned to the throne after being lost in 1818 when [[Charles XIII of Sweden]] died.

On 19 June 1850, he married in Stockholm [[Princess Louise of the Netherlands|Louise of the Netherlands]], niece of [[William II of the Netherlands]] through [[Prince Frederick of the Netherlands|her father]] and niece of [[William I, German Emperor|William I of Prussia]], [[German Empire|German Emperor]], through [[Princess Louise of Prussia (1808-1870)|her mother]]. The couple was personally quite dissimilar; Louise was a cultured and refined woman, however, she was considered to be quite plain and Charles was disappointed with her appearance. Louise was in love with her husband, whereas he preferred other women, saddening her deeply. His well-known mistresses included the actress [[Laura Bergnéhr]], the countess [[Josephine Sparre]], [[Wilhelmine Schröder]] and the actresses [[Hanna Styrell]] and [[Elise Hwasser]], and the Crown Prince neglected his shy wife. On the other hand, his relationship to his only daughter, [[Lovisa of Sweden|Louise]], was warm and close.<ref>{{cite web|url=     https://nbl.snl.no/Karl_4|title= Karl 4, Konge (1826–1872)|publisher =  Norsk biografisk leksikon|access-date= September 1, 2016}}</ref>

===Reign===
[[File:Carl XV of Sweden c 1870.jpg|thumb|left|Photograph of Charles XV in coronation robes]]
As Crown Prince, Charles's brusque manner had 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 municipal 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".<ref name=EB1911/> Charles also helped [[Louis De Geer (1818-1896)|Louis De Geer]] to carry through his reform of the [[Parliament of Sweden]] in 1866. He also declared the freedom of women by passing the law of [[legal majority]] for unmarried women in 1858 – his sister [[Princess Eugenie of Sweden|Princess Eugenie]] became the first woman who was declared mature.<ref>{{cite web|url=    https://snl.no/Karl_4%2F1826-72
|title= Karl 4 – 1826–72|publisher= Store norske leksikon|author=  Erik Opsahl|access-date= September 1, 2016}}</ref>

Though known as King Charles XV (15th) in Sweden (and also on contemporary Norwegian coins<ref>[http://www.nrk.no/programmer/tv/kvitt_eller_dobbelt/1.6314451 Example]</ref>), he was actually the ninth Swedish king by that name, as his predecessor [[Charles IX of Sweden|Charles IX]] (reigned 1604–1611) had adopted a numeral according to a fictitious history of Sweden.<ref>Article [https://runeberg.org/nfbm/0500.html Karl] in [[Nordisk familjebok]]</ref>

Charles, like his father Oscar I, was an advocate of [[Scandinavianism]] and the political solidarity of the three northern kingdoms, and his friendship with [[Frederick VII of Denmark]], it is said, led him to give half promises of help to Denmark on the eve of the [[Second Schleswig War|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.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|wstitle=Charles XV.|volume=5|last=Bain |first=Robert Nisbet |authorlink=Robert Nisbet Bain|page=932|short=1}}</ref> On behalf of Charles, [[Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek]], Dutch diplomat in Japan, concluded a "Vänskaps-, handels- och sjöfartstraktat" ("Friendship, Trade and Maritime Treaty") between Sweden-Norway and Japan on 11 November 1868 (see the [[Treaty of Yokohama]]). The treaty opened [[Hakodate]], [[Yokohama]], [[Nagasaki]], [[Kobe]] and [[Osaka]] to trade for Swedish and Norwegian traders (Article 3). The treaty also gave Sweden-Norway the opportunity to send consuls to the newly opened ports, where they were given the right to exercise jurisdiction over Swedes and Norwegians ([[consular court|consular jurisdiction]]).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=eRswEAAAQBAJ&dq=dirk+de+Graeff+van+Polsbroek+meiji&pg=PT27 Sweden, Japan, and the Long Second World War: 1931–1945, by Pascal Lottaz, Ingemar Ottosson]</ref> 

Plagued by ill-health for the last years of his life, Charles succombed to [[abdominal tuberculosis]] in [[Malmö]] on 18 September 1872.<ref>{{cite book|author=Cronholm, Neander N. |title=A History of Sweden from the Earliest Times to the Present Day|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924071200822|year=1902}} ch 41 pp 289–99</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lindqvist |first=Herman |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/on1371246021 |title=Oscar II: den konungsligaste av alla kungar |date=2022 |publisher=Albert Bonniers förlag AB |isbn=978-91-0-018884-9 |location=Stockholm |pages=128 |language=sv |oclc=on1371246021}}</ref>
[[File:Carl XV(III) & Louise coronation medal 1860.jpg|thumb|Coronation medal for Charles and Louise 1860]]

He was followed on the thrones of both Norway and Sweden by his brother, crowned Oscar II.

===Personal life===
Charles XV attained some eminence as a painter<ref name=EB1911/> and as a poet. In 1872, Charles XV had controversial plans to enter a [[Morganatic marriage|non-morganatic marriage]] with the Polish countess [[Marya Krasińska|Maria Beatrix Krasińska]] through the assistance of [[Ohan Demirgian]], plans that aroused opposition both in the [[House of Bernadotte|Royal house]] and [[Government of Sweden|Government]] and which were interrupted only by his death.<ref>Ohan Demirgian, urn:sbl:17456, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Carl-Gustaf Thomasson.), hämtad 2014-12-13.</ref>

Charles's popularity often had him referred to [[wikt:colloquial|colloquially]] as "Kron-Kalle" (''Crown-Charlie'').<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.kungligaslotten.se/ur-arkivet/svenska-regenter/2018-02-20-karl-xv-1859-1872.html | title=Karl XV 1859–1872 }}</ref>