Charles XV of Sweden

Charles XV & IV King of Sweden and Norway Charles XV in the 1860s Reign 8 July 1859 – 18 September 1872 Coronation 3 May 1860 Stockholm, 5 August 1860 Trondheim Predecessor Oscar I Successor Oscar II Spouse Louise of the Netherlands Issue Louise, Queen of Denmark Prince Carl Oscar, Duke of Södermanland Full name Carl Ludvig Eugen Father Oscar I Mother Josephine of Leuchtenberg Born 3 May 1826(1826-05-03) Stockholm Died 18 September 1872(1872-09-18) (aged 46) Malmö Burial Riddarholmskyrkan, Stockholm Religion Lutheran

Swedish Royalty House of Bernadotte Charles XIV John Children    Oscar I Oscar I Children    Charles XV    Gustaf, Duke of Upland    Oscar II    Princess Eugenie    August, Duke of Dalarna Charles XV Children    Lovisa, Queen of Denmark    Carl Oscar, Duke of Södermanland Oscar II Children    Gustaf V    Oscar, Duke of Gotland    Eugén, Duke of Närke    Carl, Duke of Västergötland Grandchildren    Princess Margaretha    Märtha, Crown Princess of Norway    Astrid, Queen of Belgium    Carl, Duke of Östergötland Gustaf V Children    Gustaf VI Adolf    Vilhelm, Duke of Södermanland    Erik, Duke of Västmanland Gustaf VI Adolf Children    Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten    Sigvard, Duke of Uppland    Ingrid, Queen of Denmark    Bertil, Duke of Halland    Carl Johan, Duke of Dalarna Grandchildren    Princess Margaretha    Princess Birgitta    Princess Désirée    Princess Christina    Carl XVI Gustaf Carl XVI Gustaf Children    Crown Princess Victoria    Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland    Madeleine, Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland

Charles XV & IV also Carl (Carl Ludvig Eugen); Swedish and Norwegian: Karl (3 May 1826 – 18 September 1872) was King of Sweden (Charles XV) and Norway (Charles IV) from 1859 until his death.

Though known as King Charles XV in Sweden, he was actually the ninth Swedish king by that name, as his predecessor Charles IX (reigned 1604–1611) had adopted a numeral according to a fictitious history of Sweden.^[1]

Biography

He was born in Stockholm Palace, Stockholm, and dubbed Duke of Skåne at birth. He was the eldest son of King Oscar I and Josephine of Leuchtenberg. He was given his first officer's commission in 1841 by his grandfather, Charles XIV John. After his father's accession to the throne in 1844, he was made a chancellor of the universities of Uppsala and Lund, and in 1853 chancellor of Royal Swedish Academy of Arts. On February 11, 1846, he was made an honorary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

The Crown Prince was 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. As grandson of Augusta of Bavaria, he was a descendant of Gustav I of Sweden and Charles IX of Sweden, whose blood returned to the throne after being lost in 1818 when Charles XIII of Sweden died.

On 19 June 1850 he married in Stockholm Louise of the Netherlands, niece of William II of the Netherlands through her father and niece of William I of Prussia, German Emperor, through her mother. The couple were personally quite dissimilar; Princess Louise was in love with her husband, whereas he preferred other women. His well-known mistresses included the countess Josephine Sparre, Wilhelmine Schröder and the actresses Hanna Styrell and Elise Hwasser, the latter the most celebrated actress in Sweden during his reign, and the Crown Prince neglected his shy wife. On the other hand, his relationship to his only daughter, Louise, was warm and close.

As Crown Prince, Charles' brusque manner 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 communal 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". Charles also helped Louis De Geer to carry through his memorable 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 became the first woman who was declared mature.

Charles 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 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. He died in Malmö on 18 September 1872.

Charles XV attained some eminence as a painter and as a poet. He was followed on both the thrones of Norway and Sweden by his brother Oscar II.

In 1855 he became the 990th Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Spain.

A few weeks before Charles' death, his daughter Louise (then the Crown Princess of Denmark) gave birth to her second son. The young Prince of Denmark became christened as grandfather Charles' namesake. In 1905 this grandson, Prince Carl of Denmark, ascended the throne of Norway, becoming thus his maternal grandfather's successor in that country, and assumed the reign name Haakon VII. The present king, Harald V of Norway, is Charles' great-great-grandson, through his father and mother.

No subsequent king of Sweden to this day is Charles' descendant. However, his descendants are or have been on the thrones of Denmark, Luxembourg, Greece, Belgium and Norway.

Issue

Name	Birth	Death	Notes
Louise Josephine Eugenie	31 October 1851	21 March 1926	married, 1869, Frederick VIII of Denmark; had issue
Carl Oscar Vilhelm Frederik	14 December 1852	13 March 1854	died in infancy
Carl Johan Bolander[2]	4 February 1854	28 July 1903	father of Bishop Nils Bolander; had issue

Ancestry

16. Jean Bernadotte

8. Jean Henri Bernadotte

17. Marie du Pucheu

4. Charles XIV John of Sweden

18. Jean de Saint Vincent

9. Jeanne de Saint Vincent

19. Marie d'Abbadie de Sireix

2. Oscar I of Sweden

20. Joseph Clary

10. François Clary

21. Françoise Agnes Ammoric

5. Désirée Clary

22. Joseph Ignace Somis

11. Françoise Rose Somis

23. Catherine Rose Soucheiron

1. Charles XV of Sweden

24. François de Beauharnais, Marquess de La Ferté-Beauharnais

12. Alexandre, vicomte de Beauharnais

25. Marie Anne Henriette Françoise Pyvart de Chastulle

6. Eugène de Beauharnais

26. Joseph-Gaspard de Tascher de La Pagerie

13. Joséphine de Tascher de La Pagerie

27. Rose-Claire des Vergers de Sanois

3. Duchess Josephine of Leuchtenberg

28. Count Palatine Frederick Michael of Zweibrücken

14. Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria

29. Countess Palatine Maria Franziska of Sulzbach

7. Princess Augusta of Bavaria

30. Prince Georg Wilhelm of Hesse-Darmstadt

15. Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt

31. Countess Marie Luise of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Heidesheim

References

1. ^ Article Karl in Nordisk familjebok
2. ^ Carl-Erik Sahlberg in Nils Bolander diktare och predikant ISBN 91-86112-39-2 p. 11

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links

• Royal House of Sweden and Royal House of Norway
• Royal House of the Netherlands and Grand-Ducal House of Luxembourg
• The Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav - Norwegian and Swedish Monarchs Grand Masters of the Order
• Family tree of the Royal Norwegian House
• Kings of Norway (in Norwegian)
• Much material on early kings (in Norwegian)

Karl XV/IV House of Bernadotte Born: 3 May 1826 Died: 18 September 1872
Regnal titles
Preceded by Oscar I	King of Sweden and Norway 1859–1872	Succeeded by Oscar II
Titles of nobility
New title	Duke of Skåne 1826–1859	Vacant Title next held by Gustav Adolf
Political offices
Preceded by Severin Løvenskiold	Prime Minister of Norway 1856	Succeeded by Jørgen Herman Vogt
Preceded by Jørgen Herman Vogt	Prime Minister of Norway 1857

Persondata
Name	Charles 15 Of Sweden
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	3 May 1826
Place of birth	Stockholm
Date of death	18 September 1872
Place of death	Malmö