Editing House of Bernadotte (section)

== History of the house ==

Following the conclusion of the [[Finnish War]] in 1809, Sweden lost possession of [[Finland]], which had constituted roughly the eastern half of the Swedish realm for centuries. Resentment towards King [[Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden|Gustav IV Adolf]] precipitated an abrupt ''[[coup d'état]]''. Gustav Adolf (and his son [[Gustav, Prince of Vasa|Gustav]]) was deposed and his uncle [[Charles XIII of Sweden|Charles XIII]] was elected King in his place. However, Charles XIII was 61 years old and prematurely senile. He was also childless; one child had been stillborn and another died after less than a week. It was apparent almost as soon as Charles XIII ascended the throne that the Swedish branch of the House of Holstein-Gottorp would die with him. In 1810 the [[Riksdag of the Estates]], the Swedish parliament, elected a [[Denmark|Danish]] prince, Prince Christian August of Augustenborg, as heir-presumptive to the throne.  He took the name [[Charles August, Crown Prince of Sweden|Charles August]], but died later that same year.

At this time, Emperor [[Napoleon I of France]] controlled much of continental Europe, and some of his [[Napoleonic Empire|client states]] were headed by his siblings. The Riksdag decided to choose a king of whom Napoleon would approve. On 21 August 1810, the Riksdag elected Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, a [[Marshal of France]], as [[heir presumptive]] to the Swedish throne.
[[File:Karl XIV Johan, king of Sweden and Norway, painted by Fredric Westin.jpg|thumb|left|175px|[[Charles XIV John of Sweden|Charles John]], born Jean Bernadotte, King of Sweden and Norway 1818–1844<br />Portrait by [[Fredric Westin]].]]

The [[coat of arms]] of the House of Bernadotte [[Impalement (heraldry)|impales]] the coat of arms of the [[House of Vasa]] (''heraldic right'') and the coat of arms of Bernadotte as [[Prince of Pontecorvo]] (''heraldic left''). It is visible as an [[Escutcheon (heraldry)|inescutcheon]] in the [[Coat of arms of Sweden|Greater Coat of Arms of the Realm]].

When elected to be Swedish royalty  the new heir had been called ''[[Prince Bernadotte]]'' according to the promotions he received from Emperor Napoleon I, culminating in sovereignty over the [[Principality of Pontecorvo]]. Some Swedish experts have asserted that all of his male heirs have had the right to use that Italian title, since the Swedish government never made payments promised Charles John to get him to give up his position in Pontecorvo.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bramstång|first1=Gunnar|title=Tronrätt, bördstitel och hustillhörighet|date=1990|page=30|language=sv}}</ref>

Some members of the house who lost their royal status and Swedish titles due to unapproved marriages have also been given the titles Prince Bernadotte and [[Count of Wisborg]] in the [[nobility]] of other countries.

=== Bernadotte ===
[[File:Coat of arms of Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte.svg|thumb|175px|Bernadotte's arms as sovereign of Pontecorvo]]
Bernadotte, born in the town of [[Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques|Pau]], in the province of [[Béarn]], France, had risen to the rank of general during the [[French Revolution]]. In 1798, he married [[Désirée Clary]], whose sister was married to [[Joseph Bonaparte|Joseph]], Napoleon's elder brother. In 1804, Napoleon promoted Bernadotte to a Marshal of France. Napoleon also granted him the title "Prince of [[Pontecorvo]]".

As the [[Crown Prince]] of Sweden, he assumed the name Charles John ({{langx|sv|Karl Johan}}) and acted as regent for the remainder of Charles XIII's reign. In 1813, he broke with Napoleon and led Sweden into the [[Sixth Coalition|anti-Napoleon alliance]]. When Norway was awarded to Sweden by the [[Treaty of Kiel]], Norway resisted and declared independence, triggering a [[Swedish–Norwegian War (1814)|brief war between Sweden and Norway]]. The war ended when Bernadotte persuaded Norway to enter into a [[Union between Sweden and Norway|personal union with Sweden]]. Instead of being merely a Swedish province, Norway remained an independent kingdom, though sharing a common monarch and foreign policy. Bernadotte reigned as [[Charles XIV John of Sweden]] and Charles III John of Norway from 5 February 1818 until his death on 8 March 1844.

The House of Bernadotte reigned in both countries until the [[dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden]] in 1905. Prince Carl of Denmark was then elected as King [[Haakon VII of Norway]]. Carl was a grandson of King [[Charles XV of Sweden]] and a great-great-grandson of Charles XIV.

=== French origins ===

{{Multiple image|perrow = 2|total_width = 380
| image1            = Jeanne Bernadotte (1728-1809) (Louis André Fabre) - Nationalmuseum - 24994.tif
| alt1              = 
| caption1          = The king's mother Jeanne
| image2            = John Evangelist Bernadotte c 1811.jpg
| alt2              = 
| caption2          = Baron J. E. Bernadotte
}}
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[[File:Jeanne Bernadotte (1728-1809) (Louis André Fabre) - Nationalmuseum - 24994.tif|thumb|left|The king's mother Jeanne]]
[[File:John Evangelist Bernadotte c 1811.jpg|thumb|175px|Baron J. E. Bernadotte]]
-->
King [[Charles XIV John of Sweden|Charles John]]'s first known paternal ancestor was Joandou du Poey, who was a shepherd. He married Germaine de Bernadotte in 1615 in the southern French city of [[Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques|Pau]] and began using her [[surname]]. Through her the couple owned a building there called ''de Bernadotte'',<ref>''Ätten Bernadotte : biografiska anteckningar'', [Andra tillökade uppl.], Johannes Almén, C. & E. Gernandts förlag, Stockholm 1893, p. 1</ref> the surname theoretically meaning ''Young woman of [[Béarn]]'' in local dialect.<ref>{{cite book | last=Demitz | first=Jacob Truedson | title=Centuries of Selfies: Portraits commissioned by Swedish kings and queens| publisher=Vulkan Förlag | publication-place=Stockholm; New York | date=2020 | isbn=978-91-89179-63-9 | others=Preface by [[Ulf Sundberg]]|title-link=Centuries of Selfies|pages=155}}</ref>

A grandson of theirs, Jean Bernadotte (1649–1698), was a weaver.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gw.geneanet.org/eallain?lang=fr;pz=timothe;nz=billard;ocz=0;p=jean;n=bernadotte |title=Jean Bernadotte |publisher=geneanet.org |language=fr}}</ref>

Another Jean Bernadotte (1683–1760), his son, was a tailor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gw.geneanet.org/eallain?lang=fr;pz=timothe;nz=billard;ocz=0;p=jean;n=bernadotte;oc=1 |title=Jean Bernadotte |publisher=geneanet.org |language=fr}}</ref>

His son Henri Bernadotte (1711–1780) married Jeanne de Saint-Jean (1728–1809) and with her was the father of the future Swedish–Norwegian king. Henri was a local [[prosecutor]], from a family of [[artisan]]s,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ndf.fr/la-une/18-03-2011/bernadotte-un-general-de-napoleon-devenu-du-roi-de-suede | title=Bernadotte : un général de Napoléon devenu du Roi de Suède | date=18 March 2011 |publisher=ndf.fr |language=fr}}</ref> who had once been imprisoned for debt.<ref>''Bulletin du Musée Bernadotte'' volume 3–4, Pau 1958–1959, p. 57</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lefrancofil.com/4990/suede/le-fabuleux-destin-de-jean-baptiste-bernadotte/ | title=Le fabuleux destin de Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte : de Pau à Marseille | date=27 August 2010 |publisher=lefrancofil.com |language=fr}}</ref> This was a modest family which occupied only one floor of the house in a cross street in a popular and peripheral district of Pau.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.larepubliquedespyrenees.fr/2010/09/28/victoria-sur-les-pas-de-son-aieul,158177.php | title=Victoria de Suède sur les pas de son aïeul | date=28 September 2010 |publisher=larepubliquedespyrenees.fr |language=fr}}</ref>

Two branches of the French Bernadotte family survive. The elder descends from Andrew (''André'') Bernadotte, an older granduncle of Carl John's, with descendants today in the general population of France. The younger branch divided in two, one branch descending from the king's older brother John (''Jean Évangéliste'') Bernadotte (1754–1813), the heads of which were French [[baron]]s as of 1810 with [[Louvie-Juzon|Louvie]] Palace<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mediatheques.agglo-pau.fr/getImage/default.ashx?INSTANCE=exploitation&EIDMPA=IFD_FICJOINT_0006883&D=20120302095634 |title=Photo du Château Louvie, à Jurançon – Côté Est |publisher=J. Callizo, photographe (1909) |language=fr |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312110159/http://mediatheques.agglo-pau.fr/getImage/default.ashx?INSTANCE=exploitation&EIDMPA=IFD_FICJOINT_0006883&D=20120302095634 |archive-date=2016-03-12 }}</ref> in the south of Pau as their seat (branch extinct with the death of Baron Henri Bernadotte in 1966), and the other branch being the Swedish Royal House.<ref>''Bulletin du Musée Bernadotte'' charts on ancestry</ref>