Tag: Denmark

Sweden and Norway and Carl XIV Bernadotte

I just returned from a trip to Scandinavia with my son and his wife and I thought I would make another post related to our travel. “Sweden and Norway and Carl XIV Bernadotte” is a factual post, but it is not a super-fact post.

This post is about an interesting Swedish and Norwegian king who was imported from France, and who was the founder of the current Swedish dynasty, Bernadotte. While the United States is a democratic federal republic and Sweden is a democratic constitutional monarchy, they are both representative democracies with a lot in common politically.

The Swedish political power is divided between a legislative, executive, and judicial branch, just like in the United States, people vote for their representatives, and the modern Swedish king does not have any significant political power. However, the royal family is an important symbol for Sweden and is in general well liked. Below is the photo of the current Swedish royal family.

The Swedish Royal family. The two people in the middle are Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Bernadotte. To the right of the king is the future monarch of Sweden princess Victoria and to the left of Queen Silvia is her husband. The others are their other two children and their spouses.

It may come as a surprise to non-Americans that despite the United States being a Democratic Republic and not a monarchy, Americans are obsessed by the British Royal family. I should say that this obsession is only with the British Royal Family and not with any of the other 42 Royal Families of the world. Sweden, Norway and Denmark are all monarchies, but my efforts to create an American obsession with the Swedish royal family might be in vain. Below is a map of northern Europe showing these three countries and a few more north European countries.

Northern Europe including Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Stock Vector ID: 2173507635 by Peter Hermes Furian

King Karl XIV Johan of Sweden (or Carl XIV), or Charles XIV John was King of Sweden and Norway from 1818 until his death in 1844 and the first monarch of the Bernadotte dynasty. However, he was elected the heir-presumptive to the childless King Charles XIII of Sweden in 1810 and became the de facto ruler after Charles XIII (Carl XIII) had a stroke in 1812. King Karl XIV was born in France 26 January 1763 and his name was originally Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte.

During the Napoleonic Wars, he participated in several battles as a Marshal of France, and he played a significant role in the French victory at Austerlitz. He became an extended member of the French Imperial family (Emperor Napoleon).

This is a painting of Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte  (Carl XIV) hanging in the Royal Palace in the Old City of Stockholm.
A photo I took of the guard at the Royal Palace in the Old City of Stockholm. If you zoom in you can see that a few of them are women.
One of the many rooms inside the Royal Palace in the Old City of Stockholm.
Drottningholm, one of the Royal Palaces in Sweden. It was built in the 1660’s and inspired by Versailles.

Sweden took Norway from Denmark in 1814, and Karl XIV Johan became the ruler of both Sweden and Norway and was officially made king in 1818. Sweden was a country that had been almost constantly at war but since 1814 reign Sweden was at peace. Sweden’s longstanding non-alignment and peace was initiated during King Carl / Karl XIV reign (Karl XIV Johan died 1844). Norway and Sweden resolved their union peacefully in 1905. Karl XIV Johan was popular in both countries.

My photo of a painting in the Royal Palace in the Old City of Stockholm. It shows the coronation of Karl XIV Johan.
Carl XIV of Norway and Sweden. This statue is located in Norway. Stock Photo ID: 191276033 by Toni Genes

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Sweden and Denmark and Gustav I Vasa

I am currently traveling in Scandinavia with my oldest son and his wife. Therefore, my blogging activities are a little bit less intense than usual. This post is factual, but it is not a super-fact post.

Yesterday, we visited Uppsala, a city north of Stockholm. Uppsala is Sweden’s fourth largest city, and it is the home to one of Europe’s most prominent universities, Uppsala University. This is also where I studied engineering physics before coming to the United States.

The largest cathedral in Sweden, Uppsala Domkyrka. This is where Gustav I Vasa is buried. Gustav I is arguably Sweden’s most prominent king.

During the Viking era Uppsala was the religious center of Sweden. Later as Sweden became Christian it remained the religious center of Sweden, however, the Viking temple in old Uppsala was replaced by a Christian church. Sweden’s largest cathedral, Uppsala Domkyrka, is located in Uppsala. Inside Uppsala Domkyrka is the tomb of the king that is considered to be the father of Sweden, Gustav I Vasa.

Inside Uppsala Domkyrka.

The relationships between the Scandinavian countries were quite complicated in the past, especially that between Sweden and Denmark. If you do a google search using the phrase “which two countries fought the most wars with each other” the top results all claim that this was Sweden and Denmark. The websites in question, Quora, Twitter and Reddit, aren’t reliable sources, so this may not be true. However, more reliable sources, such as historical sites, encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia state that Sweden and Denmark fought at least 11 wars with each other.

Denmark vs Sweden. The yellow and blue flag is the Swedish flag. Red and white is the Danish. Shutterstock Stock Photo ID: 1114320377 by Hasanov Jeyhun.

In 1397 a union was formed between Denmark, Norway and Sweden called the Kalmar Union (Kalmar is a city a Sweden). The Kalmar Union came to be dominated by Denmark and eventually Sweden rebelled against the Danish King Christian II. He was called Christian the Good in Denmark and Christian the Tyrant in Sweden.

This rebellion was led by a noble, Gustav Eriksson who later would be crowned as Gustav I Vasa. He was the first of the Vasa kings. Sweden declared its independence from Denmark on June 6th, 1523, which is why June 6th is Sweden’s national day, or Independence Day.

The Kalmar Union. Finland was part of Sweden at the time. Ssolbergj, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons
Painting of Gustav I Vasa. Fashion was somewhat different back in the day.

Sweden and Denmark had a complicated history that included a lot of hostilities and wars, but you wouldn’t know it if you looked at the situation today. There hasn’t been a war between Sweden and Denmark in more than 180 years and Swedes and Danes get along very well, well as long as you don’t talk too much about the past. In my opinion Swedes and Danes get along better than Texans and Oklahomans. Maybe it helps that Swedes can’t understand what the Danes are saying.

The tomb of Gustav I Vasa in Uppsala Domkyrka. In the background is my son and his wife.

To see the Super Facts click here