Charles XV or Carl (''Carl Ludvig Eugen'';

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

and Norwegian officially: ''Karl''; 3 May 1826 – 18 September 1872) was

King of Sweden The monarchy of Sweden is the monarchical head of state of Sweden,See the Instrument of Government, Chapter 1, Article 5. which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system.Parliamentary system: see the Instrument o ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, there often referred to as Charles IV, from 8 July 1859 until his death in 1872. Charles was the third Swedish monarch from the House of Bernadotte. He was the first one to be born in Sweden, and the first to be raised from birth in the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

faith.

Biography

Early life

He was born in Stockholm Palace,

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, in 1826 and dubbed Duke of Scania at birth. Born the eldest son of Crown Prince Oscar of Sweden and his wife Crown Princess Josephine, he would be second in line to the throne of his grandfather, the ruling King

Charles XIV John of Sweden sv, Karl Johan Baptist Julius , spouse = , issue = Oscar I of Sweden , house = Bernadotte , father = Henri Bernadotte , mother = Jeanne de Saint-Jean , birth_date = , birth_place = Pau, ...

. During his childhood he was placed in the care of the royal governess, Countess Christina Ulrika Taube. When he was just 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 Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

and

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

, and in 1853 chancellor of

Royal Swedish Academy of Arts The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts ( sv, Kungliga Akademien för de fria konsterna), commonly called the Royal Academy, is located in Stockholm, Sweden. An independent organization that promotes the development of painting, sculpture, architec ...

. On 11 February 1846, he was made an honorary member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

. The Crown Prince was

Viceroy of Norway The Viceroy of Norway ( Constitutional Danish: Vice-Konge) was the appointed head of the Norwegian Government in the absence of the King, during the era of the Union between Sweden and Norway. The role was essentially the same as that of the Gover ...

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 french: Auguste Amélie Louise Georgie , spouse = , issue = Joséphine, Queen of Sweden and Norway Eugénie, Princess of Hohenzollern-Hechingen Auguste, 2nd Duke of Leuchtenberg Amélie, Empress of Brazil Théodoline, Countess Wilhelm of Wü ...

, he was a descendant of

Gustav I of Sweden Gustav I, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known as Gustav Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560, previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm ('' Riksföre ...

and

Charles IX of Sweden Charles IX, also Carl ( sv, Karl IX; 4 October 1550 – 30 October 1611), reigned as King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I () and of his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, the brother of King Eric X ...

, 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

Louise of the Netherlands Louise of the Netherlands (Wilhelmina Frederika Alexandrine Anna Louise; 5 August 1828 – 30 March 1871) was Queen of Sweden and Norway from 8 July 1859 until her death in 1871 as the wife of King Charles XV & IV. Youth Princess Louise was born ...

, niece of

William II of the Netherlands William II ( nl, Willem Frederik George Lodewijk, anglicized as William Frederick George Louis; 6 December 1792 – 17 March 1849) was King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Duke of Limburg. William II was the son of William ...

through her father and niece of William I of Prussia, German Emperor, through 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 Hanna Styrell (Stockholm, 21 January 1842 – 19 April 1904), was a Swedish actress. She is known as the royal mistress of King Charles XV of Sweden. Life Styrell was the daughter of a baker in Stockholm. She became an actress at the age of seve ...

and

Elise Hwasser Ebba Charlotta Elise Hwasser née ''Jakobsson'' (16 March 1831 – 28 January 1894) was a Swedish stage actress. She was an elite actor and has been referred to as the leading lady of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in the mid 19th-century.Nordensva ...

, and the Crown Prince neglected his shy wife. On the other hand, his relationship to his only daughter,

Louise Louise or Luise may refer to: * Louise (given name) Arts Songs * "Louise" (Bonnie Tyler song), 2005 * "Louise" (The Human League song), 1984 * "Louise" (Jett Rebel song), 2013 * "Louise" (Maurice Chevalier song), 1929 *"Louise", by Clan of ...

, was warm and close.

Reign

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". Charles also helped 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 The age of majority is the threshold of legal adulthood as recognized or declared in law. It is the moment when minors cease to be considered such and assume legal control over their persons, actions, and decisions, thus terminating the control ...

for unmarried women in 1858 – his sister

Princess Eugenie Princess Eugenie, Mrs Jack Brooksbank ( ; Eugenie Victoria Helena; born 23 March 1990) is a member of the British royal family. She is the younger daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York. She is a niece of King Ch ...

became the first woman who was declared mature. Though known as King Charles XV in Sweden (and also on contemporary Norwegian coins), 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. Charles, like his father Oscar I, was an advocate of

Scandinavianism Scandinavism ( da, skandinavisme; no, skandinavisme; sv, skandinavism), also called Scandinavianism or pan-Scandinavianism,Frederick VII of Denmark Frederick VII (Frederik Carl Christian; 6 October 1808 – 15 November 1863) was King of Denmark from 1848 to 1863. He was the last Danish monarch of the older Royal branch of the House of Oldenburg and the last king of Denmark to rule as an ...

, 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. 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 is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of 412.8 ...

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

and

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

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 jurisdiction). Charles died in

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

on 18 September 1872. Charles XV attained some eminence as a painter and as a poet. He was followed on the thrones of both Norway and Sweden by his brother Oscar II. In 1872, Charles XV had controversial plans to enter a non-morganatic marriage with the Polish countess Maria Beatrix Krasińska through the assistance of

Ohan Demirgian Ohan Demirgian, or Démirdjian in French, also called Habib Bey (14 January 1837 – 1877), was an Egyptian-Armenian diplomat. He was the favorite of king Charles XV of Sweden. Biography Demirgian was an Armenians, Armenian and the son of the Egyp ...

, plans that aroused opposition both in the

Royal house A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in repu ...

and

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

and which were interrupted only by his death. Charles's popularity often had him referred to colloquially as "Kron-Kalle" (''Crown-Charlie'').

Issue

By his wife,

, Charles had two children, a son who died in infancy and a daughter who married the King of Denmark. The early death of Charles's only legitimate son meant that he was succeeded on the thrones of Sweden and Norway by his younger brother Oscar II. Charles also sired an illegitimate son, Carl Johan Bolander, (4 February 1854 – 28 July 1903), the father of Bishop

Nils Bolander Nils Fredrik Bolander (18 July 1902 in Västerås - 7 December 1959 in Lund) was a Swedish prelate who served as Bishop of Lund. Biography He was the son of cathedral organist Carl Johan Bolander, who according to the bishop's main biographer was ...

, and daughter, Ellen Svensson Hammar (28 October 1865 – 1931), and it has been widely rumored that Charles had many more extramarital children. A few weeks before Charles's death, his daughter Louise (then Crown Princess of Denmark) gave birth to her second son, Prince Carl of Denmark. In 1905, Prince Carl ascended to the throne of Norway with the regnal name '' Haakon VII'', thus becoming Charles's successor in that country. No subsequent king of Sweden to this day is Charles's descendant. However, his descendants are on the thrones of Denmark, Luxembourg, Belgium and Norway.

Honours

;National decorations * Knight and Commander of the Seraphim, with Collar, ''3 May 1826'' * Knight of the Order of Charles XIII, ''3 May 1826'' * Commander Grand Cross of the Sword, ''3 May 1826'' * Commander Grand Cross of the Polar Star, ''3 May 1826'' * Grand Cross of St. Olav, with Collar, ''3 May 1826'' ;Foreign decorations

Arms

Ancestry

References

External links

The Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav – Norwegian and Swedish Monarchs Grand Masters of the Order
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Charles 15 1826 births 1872 deaths 19th-century Swedish monarchs 19th-century Norwegian monarchs 19th-century regents People from Stockholm House of Bernadotte Swedish people of French descent Regents of Sweden Regents of Norway Dukes of Scania Swedish Lutherans Uppsala University alumni Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Swedish monarchs of German descent Burials at Riddarholmen Church Swedish Freemasons Crown princes of Sweden Crown princes of Norway Grand Masters of the Order of Charles XIII Knights of the Order of Charles XIII Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary Grand Commanders of the Order of the Dannebrog Recipients of the Cross of Honour of the Order of the Dannebrog Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Order of the Netherlands Lion 3 3 3 Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Russia) Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain Sons of kings