Count of Wisborg

The title Count of Wisborg (Swedish: Greve af Wisborg) is, since 1892, borne by the male-line descendants of four princes of Sweden who married morganatically without the consent of the King of Sweden and thereby lost the right of succession to the throne of Sweden for themselves, their children and their descendants. The four former princes of Sweden each lost their Swedish titles and assumed the surname of Bernadotte. In each case the former prince of Sweden was given the title Count of Wisborg by the reigning Grand Duke or Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.^[1] In Sweden, these members of the House of Bernadotte are considered part of the unintroduced nobility and Count Carl Johan Bernadotte of Wisborg was for many years chairman of Ointroducerad Adels Förening.

The four former princes of Sweden given the title Count of Wisborg are:

• Oscar Bernadotte (1859–1953), second son of King Oscar II of Sweden. He married morganatically and lost his Swedish titles on March 15, 1888. He was created Count of Wisborg by Grand Duke Adolphe of Luxembourg on February 2, 1892. Oscar's mother, Queen Sofia of Sweden, was the half-sister of Grand Duke Adolphe. A possible explanation for the choice of the Wisborg title is that Oscar was formerly Duke of Gotland and the fortification Visborg (then spelled Wisborg) lies within Gotland.

• Lennart Bernadotte (1909–2004), only son of Prince Vilhelm, Duke of Södermanland. He married morganatically and lost his Swedish titles on March 11, 1932. He was created Count of Wisborg by Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg on July 2, 1951. Lennart styled himself Prince Lennart Bernadotte, but this usage was never recognised by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

• Sigvard Bernadotte (1907–2002), second son of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden. He married morganatically and lost his Swedish titles on March 8, 1934. He was created Count of Wisborg by Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg on July 2, 1951. Sigvard unilaterally reclaimed the title of Prince of Sweden on May 28, 1983, but this usage was never recognised by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

• Carl Johan Bernadotte (born 1916), fourth son of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden. He married morganatically and lost his Swedish titles on February 19, 1946. He was created Count of Wisborg by Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg on July 2, 1951. He is the last surviving great-grandchild of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

The agnatic (male-line) descendants of each of these four former princes of Sweden are entitled to the title Count of Wisborg. In practice, their surname is often included in the title, Count Bernadotte of Wisborg. The most well-known is Folke Bernadotte, a son of Oscar Bernadotte, the first Count of Wisborg. He was the United Nations Security Council mediator in the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1947–1948, assassinated in 1948 by Zionist militants.

A fifth prince of Sweden, Carl (1911–2003), married morganatically and lost his Swedish titles in 1937. He was given the title Prince Bernadotte by his brother-in-law King Leopold III of Belgium. His male-line descendants bear the title Count Bernadotte (but this line will end at once with his only daughter).

References

1. ^ The Royalty, peerage and aristocracy of the world, Vol 90

See also

• Visborg