Prince Wilhelm, Duke of Södermanland

Prince Vilhelm of Sweden and Norway, ("Carl Vilhelm Ludvig") (June 17, 1884 - June 5, 1965), Duke of Södermanland, was the second son of King Gustav V of Sweden and his Queen consort Victoria of Baden.

On May 3, 1908, Wilhelm married Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia. She was a daughter of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia and Princess Alexandra of Greece. Her paternal grandparents were Emperor Alexander II of Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine. Her maternal grandparents were King George I of Greece and Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna of Russia.

Wilhelm and Maria had only one son: Prince Lennart, Duke of Småland and later Count Bernadotte af Wisborg (1909-2004). In his autobiography, Lennart tells of how his grandfather, the King, insisted that the servants call Maria by her correct style "Your Imperial Highness", to some dismay of her husband, who was of course "only" a Royal Highness. The marriage was unhappy. Maria later told people that her husband was a homosexual, though there is no other historical evidence for Wilhelm's homosexuality. On the contrary, Wilhelm was known to have mistresses even up to old age.

In 1904 Prince Wilhelm was appointed a Knight of the Norwegian lion by King Oscar II.

Ancestry

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1= 1. Prince Wilhelm, Duke of Södermanland
2= 2. Gustav V of Sweden
3= 3. Victoria of Baden
4= 4. Oscar II of Sweden
5= 5. Sofia of Nassau
6= 6. Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden
7= 7. Princess Louise of Prussia
8= 8. Oscar I of Sweden
9= 9. Josephine of Leuchtenberg
10= 10. William, Duke of Nassau
11= 11. Princess Pauline of Württemberg
12= 12. Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden
13= 13. Sophie of Sweden
14= 14. William I, German Emperor
15= 15. Augusta of Saxe-Weimar
16= 16. Charles XIV John of Sweden
17= 17. Désirée Clary
18= 18. Eugène de Beauharnais
19= 19. Princess Augusta of Bavaria
20= 20. Frederick William, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg
21= 21. Louise Isabelle of Kirchberg
22= 22. Prince Paul of Württemberg
23= 23. Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Hildburghausen
24= 24. Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden
25= 25. Luise Karoline Geyer von Geyersberg
26= 26. Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden
27= 27. Frederica of Baden
28= 28. Frederick William III of Prussia
29= 29. Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
30= 30. Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
31= 31. Maria Pavlovna of Russia