Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland

Prince Carl of Sweden and Norway, Duke of Västergötland (27 February 1861 – 24 October 1951) was a Swedish prince. Through his daughters, for whom he arranged excellent dynastic marriages, he is an ancestor of several members of European royal houses today, including the reigning monarchs King Harald V of Norway, King Philippe of Belgium, and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg.

For other Swedish Princes with the name Carl, see Prince Carl of Sweden (disambiguation).
Prince Carl
Duke of Västergötland
Photograph of Prince Carl, c. 1930
Born(1861-02-27)27 February 1861
Arvfurstens palats, Stockholm, Sweden
Died24 October 1951(1951-10-24) (aged 90)
Stockholm, Sweden
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1897)​
Issue
Names
Oscar Carl Wilhelm
HouseBernadotte
FatherOscar II of Sweden
MotherSophia of Nassau

Early life
Prince Carl of Sweden and Norway as a child, 1869
King Oscar II of Sweden and his son Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland, 1879

Prince Carl was born on (1861-02-27)27 February 1861 at his parent's residence in the Arvfurstens palats (English: Palace of the Hereditary Prince), an 18th century palace located at Gustav Adolfs Torg in central Stockholm. Born into the House of Bernadotte, he was the third son and child of the then Prince Oscar and Princess Sophia. His father was the younger brother and heir presumptive of the reigning king of Sweden-Norway, the sonless King Charles XV, and his mother was the youngest daughter of Wilhelm, Duke of Nassau. Upon the death of Charles XV on 18 September 1872, Carl's father ascended the Swedish and Norwegian thrones as King Oscar II.

Equestrian portrait of the Duke of Västergötland by Jules David, 1894

Carl was known as "the Blue Prince" (Blå Prinsen) because he often wore the blue-coloured uniform of the Life Regiment, to which he belonged in a ceremonial manner.[1]

Marriage and children
Princess Ingeborg and Prince Carl in 1897.

In May 1897, Prince Carl was engaged at the age of 36 to the 17 year old Princess Ingeborg of Denmark, the second daughter of King Frederick VIII of Denmark. Ingeborg's mother, Louise of Sweden, was a first cousin of Prince Carl, and they were, therefore, first cousins once-removed. The engagement was arranged, and in 1947, on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary, Carl admitted that their marriage had been completely arranged by their respective fathers, and Ingeborg herself added : "I married a complete stranger!"

The couple were married on 27 August 1897 at the chapel of Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen and spent their wedding trip (honeymoon) in Germany. The couple had four children:

  1. Margaretha (1899–1977), who married Prince Axel of Denmark
  2. Märtha (1901–1954), wife of Crown Prince Olav of Norway and mother of Harald V of Norway
  3. Astrid (1905–1935), wife of Leopold III of Belgium and mother of kings Baudouin and Albert II of Belgium, as also of Grand Duchess Joséphine Charlotte of Luxembourg.
  4. Carl, Duke of Östergötland, known as Carl Jr., later Prince Bernadotte (1911–2003).

All of Carl's children grew up to be healthy adults. While all three daughters made dynastic marriages that were encouraged by their parents, and became the matriarchs of their own successful families, the couple's only son gave up his (highly improbable) chance of succeeding to the throne to marry a noblewoman.

Candidate for the Norwegian throne

In 1905, during the political struggle in which Norway obtained its independence from Sweden, Prince Carl was seriously considered as a candidate for the Norwegian crown. It was thought that electing a Swedish prince as king was a less radical way for Norway to secede from the union, and hence a more peaceful approach. Carl was chosen because his eldest brother would inherit the Swedish throne, and his second brother had renounced his royal status to make an unsuitable marriage. However, Carl's father King Oscar II of Sweden did not approve of the proposal, as he saw the whole "riot" which precipitated the Norwegian crisis as a conspiracy and a betrayal against his rights as King of Norway, and he did not want any of his sons to be involved with people who he considered his enemies. Therefore, Prince Carl never became King of Norway. Instead, another Prince Carl – Prince Carl of Denmark – was elected after some diplomatic turbulence, taking the name Haakon VII. As history turned out however, the Duke of Västergötland's daughter, Princess Märtha, married Haakon VII's son, who later became King Olav V. Hence, the present King, Harald V of Norway, is a grandchild of the duke.

Legacy

Prince Carl has the distinction of being a grandfather of three reigning European monarchs: King Harald V of Norway (son of his daughter, Princess Märtha), the late King Baudouin of the Belgians and his brother, King Albert II of the Belgians (sons of his daughter, Princess Astrid). He is also a great-grandfather of King Philippe of the Belgians and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg.

Honours
National honours[2]
Foreign honours[4]

Arms

Ancestry

References

Citations
  1. "Blå prinsen" [Blue Prince]. Nationalencyklopedin (in Swedish).
  2. Sveriges statskalender (in Swedish), 1876, p. 472, retrieved 2018-01-06 – via runeberg.org
  3. Sveriges statskalender (in Swedish), 1925, p. 935, retrieved 2018-01-06 – via runeberg.org
  4. Sveriges statskalender (in Swedish), vol. 2, 1950, p. 6, retrieved 2018-01-06 – via runeberg.org
  5. "The Order of the Norwegian Lion", The Royal House of Norway. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  6. "Български: Азбучник на ордена "Свети Александър", 1912-1935 г., XIII том".
  7. Tom C. Bergroth (1997). Vapaudenristin ritarikunta: Isänmaan puolesta (in Finnish). Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö. p. 65. ISBN 951-0-22037-X.
  8. "A Szent István Rend tagjai" Archived 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  9. Italy. Ministero dell'interno (1920). Calendario generale del regno d'Italia. p. 58.
  10. Bille-Hansen, A. C.; Holck, Harald, eds. (1944) [1st pub.:1801]. Statshaandbog for Kongeriget Danmark for Aaret 1944 [State Manual of the Kingdom of Denmark for the Year 1944] (PDF). Kongelig Dansk Hof- og Statskalender (in Danish). Copenhagen: J.H. Schultz A.-S. Universitetsbogtrykkeri. p. 16. Retrieved 4 May 2020 – via da:DIS Danmark.
  11. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1896), "Großherzogliche Orden" pp. 62, 76
  12. Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach Archived 2020-09-06 at the Wayback Machine (1900), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" p. 16
  13. Sovereign Ordonnance of 5 August 1884
  14. Royal Thai Government Gazette (9 March 1898). "พระราชทานเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์ ทีประเทศยุโรป" (PDF) (in Thai). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 2019-05-08. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  15. The London Gazette, issue 27669, p. 2581

Bibliography
  • Bomann-Larsen, Tor: Folket – Haakon & Maud II (2004; in Norwegian)
  • Bramsen, Bo (1992). Huset Glücksborg. Europas svigerfader og hans efterslægt [The House of Glücksburg. The Father-in-law of Europe and his descendants] (in Danish) (2nd ed.). Copenhagen: Forlaget Forum. ISBN 87-553-1843-6.
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