King Karl XV (1826-1872) and Louise of The Netherlands (1828-1871)

[Marengo]

King Karl XV (1826-1872) and Queen Louise (1828-1871) of Sweden and Norway

This thread is about King Karl XV Ludwig Eugen of Sweden and Norway (Stockholm, 3 May 1826 - Malmö, 18 Sep 1872) and Queen Wilhelmina Frederika Alexandrine Anna Louise of Sweden and Norway, nee Princess of The Netherlands (The Hague, August 5, 1828 – Stockholm, March 30, 1871).

Children: Queen Louise of Denmark and Prince Carl Oscar of Sweden

Parents Carl: King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway and Princess Josephine of Leuchtenberg

Parents Louise: Prince Frederik of The Netherlands and Princess Luise of Prussia

Siblings Carl: Prince August, King Oscar II, Prince Gustaf and Princess Eugenie of Sweden and Norway

Siblings Louise: Prince Willem and Prince Frederik jr. of The Netherlands and Princess Marie of Wied

Note that all pictures posted by me in this thread are free of copyrights, unless stated differently.

 

[Marengo]

Karl XV (Karl Ludvig Eugen) (May 3, 1826 – September 18, 1872) was King of Sweden and Norway (where he was known as Karl IV) from 1859 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Oscar I and Josephine of Leuchtenberg. On June 19, 1850 he married Louise of the Netherlands, granddaughter of William I of the Netherlands.

He was born in Stockholm and created Duke of Skåne at birth. The Crown Prince was Viceroy of Norway briefly in 1856 and 1857. He became Regent on September 25, 1857, and king on the death of his father on July 8, 1859. As son of Josephine of Leuchtenberg, he was a descendant of Gustav I of Sweden and Charles IX of Sweden, whose blood returned on the throne after being lost in 1818 when Charles XIII of Sweden died.

Read the entire wikipedia article here.

 

[Marengo]

Princess Louise of the Netherlands (Wilhelmina Frederika Alexandrine Anna Louise) (August 5, 1828 – March 30, 1871), later Queen Lovisa of Sweden and Norway, was a member of the Dutch Royal Family, who became the Queen Consort of King Charles XV of Sweden (King Charles IV of Norway).

Princess Louise married on June 19, 1850 Crown Prince Karl of Sweden and Norway. Princess Wilhelmina Frederika Alexandrine Anna Louise then became Princess Vilhelmina Fredrika Alexandrine Anna Lovisa.
The marriage was arranged to provide the new Bernadotte dynasty with heirs and for the enormous dowry expected; although in reality, the dowry was very small. It was an unhappy union, since the crown prince found Lovisa unattractive and was unfaithful, although she quickly fell in love with him. Among her husband's many mistresses were the actresses Johanna Styrell and Elise Jakobsson-Hwasser, the latter being the most celebrated Swedish actress of the era.

Read the entire wikipedia article here.

 

[Marengo]

The couple had two children, Princess Lovisa Josefina Eugenia (Stockholm, 31 Oct 1851 - Amalienborg, 20 Mar 1926), who later became Queen of Denmark

Find her TRF thread here.

And Prince Carl Oscar of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland (Stockholm, 14 Dec 1852 - Stockholm, 13 Mar 1854)

 

[Marengo]

Two paintings of the enthronement ceremony of King Carl XV:

 

[Marengo]

A political cartoon, showing King Carl XV and King Frederik VIII of Denmark, who just made an entente cordiale:

 

[Marengo]

Some portraits of the King:

 

[Marengo]

Some information I found on Alexanderpalace forums about King Karl, I adapted the information a bit for TRF:

After the death of Queen Lovisa King Karl XV had an affair with countess Maria Krasińska (1847-1912). She later married twice. Her first husband was a Polish count, and the second one was a Czech count. She was considered to be very beautiful as well as very rich. The marriage plans between Karl and countess Krasińska made Karl's brother Oscar furious, as he saw his position as heir to the throne threatened, and the two brothers even quarrelled in public about it.

Apparently preparations were taken to make countess Krasińska "good enough", and it seems like Karl had the plan to marry her on equal forms. If the marriage would have been made equal, then the countess would have become queen. The children from this marriage would then have been rightful heirs to the throne. For a man as ambitious as Oscar this possible future must have looked just dreadful - no wonder he was furious! What would he have been if Karl had had sons - a younger son with no chance of inheriting the throne. And Oscar always believed that he would be a much better king than Karl, an opinion deeply shared by his (their) mother, queen Joséphine.

Apparently Karl had a friend in king Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy. I have read somewhere, but I do no remember where - - that Vittorio Emanuele offered to adopt countess Maria Krasińska. This would apparently have elevated her status enough to make the marriage equal. I am not sure that I believe that this is entirely true, but I guess it could be. I do not know very much about how adoptions in royal circles worked almost 150 years ago.

But instead of marrying countess Krasińska and have children by her, Karl got sick and died. And Oscar had his longlived dream fulfilled - he became king.

 

[Marengo]

Some more information on Queen Louisa/Lovisa, information taken from 'Oranje-Nasau, Een biografisch woordenboek' by Reinildis van Ditzhuyzen.

Louise enjoys a very sheltered upbringing in Wassenaar and grows up to a not especially attractive but a sweetnatured and obedient young woman. Queen Sophie of The Netherlands describes her as 'girly, clumsy and usually badly dressed'. After Louise's engagement to Carl of Sweden she dedicates herself to learning the Swedish language and culture, so when she arrived in Sweden she was able to express her thanks during the official reception in Swedish. Her life as Crownprincess Lovisa would be rather dull. She spends a lot of time at Ulriksdal where she writes a lot and reads a lot, especially memoires and Dutch newspapers. She also is dedicated to the fashionable 'illuminating', which is the colouring of religious drawings.
Due to her dislike of public duties and her shy character people judge her as haughty and she isn't very popular in Sweden. Her husband Carl on the other hand is the darling of the Swedish public, due to his charm and good looks. He however has a hot temprament and allows little critisism and shows little tact. He has a lot of love affairs and shows that he is like his father, whose bastardchildren are mockingly called 'Princes of Lapland'.

Lovisa gets two children from Carl, a daughter named Lovisa (Sessa) was born in 1851 and in 1852 she gets a son who sadly dies after 15 months. Sessa is raised in a very strict manner and in loneliness. She isn't allowed to play with other children. In 1859 King Oscar I dies and Carl becomes King Carl XV of Sweden and Norway. This means more official duties for Lovisa who reluctantly has to participate in them. She sometimes makes a journey through the country and during these journeys she usually stays at the houses of courtiers. Many of the courtiers didn't feel particularly honoured by such a visit but instead were annoyed that their daily routines had to be changed and the costs that such a visit meant to them didn't make it overly popular either. Lovisa did do a lot for charity, she founded for example the Lovisa children hospital in Stockholm.

In 1869 Queen Lovisa travels to her parents (Prince Frederik and Princess Louise of The Netherlands) who are at their Schloss Muskau in Silezia. She travels with her daughter Lovisa and Lovisa's fiancee Crownprince Frederik of Denmark (later King Frederik VIII).

The sickly Queen gets a heavy cold in 1871 that became an ammonia, shortly afterwards she dies at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, only aged 42. Even after her death she remains an unknown woman, in the few Swedish articles that are around about her, she is characterised as a simple, competent, hard working woman but colourless, both in appearance as in her temprament. The humiliated, belittled, often ridiculed Lovisa, who loved her unfaithful husband so deeply (a love not returned), is the ancestress of four of the reigning monarchs in Europe today

 

[Marengo]

Two pictures, found at worldroots of Birgitte:

Information on the marriage that I found on the Alexanderpalace forum and adapted for use here:

About a first marriage candidate for Prince Karl:

Queen Josefina was a good friend of the princess Louise of Prussia's uncle and aunt, the King and Queen of Prussia and they all thought that Karl and Louise would match together. However when Karl (and his brother Gustav) went to Berlin together in 1847 Karl didn´t like the princess at all and all hopes for a wedding were gone. An illness of Louise was the offical reason that the negotiations between Stockholm and Berlin were broken off. Karl´s sister Eugénie was greatly upset by Karl´s behaviour as she had taken a great fancy on her sister-in-law to-be and so was also Prince Gustav who told one of his friends that he himself wanted to marry Louise after her recovery even if she might not give him any children (it seems that one believed that infertility might be a result of her illness. As history shows it was not as Louise had three children with her Grand Duke of whom the daughter Victoria became Queen of Sweden...).

About Karl´s engagement to Louisa:

Louise of The Netherlands was not really regarded as a especially good party for a king-to-be, she was not the daughter of a king, only the niece of one. One of the main reasons why Karl (and the Bernadottes at that time) wanted to marry Lovisa (Louise) was that he/they thought that she was very rich and/or would receive a huge dowry from her father. However this initially was not the case, which Karl only found out when the marriage negotiations had already went quite far. The Bernadottes, as a parvenu dynasty, could not afford the scandal that would come if the engagement was broken, and so Karl married Lovisa. The economical issue was only settled some time after the marriage.

 

[Marengo]

Some more pictures:

Queen Lovisa and her mother Princess Louise of The Netherlands, nee Princess of Prussia:

Queen Lovisa in a costumed dress:

Queen lovisa and her daughter Lovisa:

 

[Marengo]

Some more images,

1: Queen Louisa
2: King Karl as Crownprince
3: The deathbed of King Oscar I, Carl is standing by the bed while Louisa is on the left.
4: Homely scene of the King, Queen and Sessa (short for Prinsessa)

 

[Furienna]

About a first marriage candidate for Prince Karl:

Queen Josefina was a good friend of the princess Louise of Prussia's uncle and aunt, the King and Queen of Prussia and they all thought that Karl and Louise would match together. However when Karl (and his brother Gustav) went to Berlin together in 1847 Karl didn´t like the princess at all and all hopes for a wedding were gone. An illness of Louise was the offical reason that the negotiations between Stockholm and Berlin were broken off. Karl´s sister Eugénie was greatly upset by Karl´s behaviour as she had taken a great fancy on her sister-in-law to-be and so was also Prince Gustav who told one of his friends that he himself wanted to marry Louise after her recovery even if she might not give him any children (it seems that one believed that infertility might be a result of her illness. As history shows it was not as Louise had three children with her Grand Duke of whom the daughter Victoria became Queen of Sweden...).

So the Louise of Prussia, who was Carl XV:s fiancée, was the same Louise of Prussia, who became the mother of Victoria of Baden? But I thought Victoria's grandfather was the emperor of Germany?

 

[Stefan]

So the Louise of Prussia, who was Carl XV:s fiancée, was the same Louise of Prussia, who became the mother of Victoria of Baden? But I thought Victoria's grandfather was the emperor of Germany?

Luise's father was Wilhelm I., german Emperor since 1871 and King of Prussia since 1861. He had succeeded his chilless brother, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV..

 

[luvaj12]

Carl XV

Hey,

I was wondering if any of you guys know if Carl XV had an illgetamit child?
If you know anything let me know.

Thanks!!

 

[PssMarie-Elisabeth]

Queen Lovisa of Denmark: Princess Royal of Sweden

Princess Lovisa c.1862

 

[Furienna]

Hey,

I was wondering if any of you guys know if Carl XV had an illgetamit child?
If you know anything let me know.

Thanks!!

Not officially, but who knows?

 

[Mauree]

Illegitimate child reply

It is said that my Great Grandfather was the Illegitimate son of the King of Norway and Sweden!
My great grandfathers birth was registered on the 8th Sept.1843 . at Stockholm ,Sweden.He was Named Enoch Fredrick Charles. The father was the only one to put his name down .He gave the name 'Carl'.
My Mother and siblings and my Grandmother were always ashamed to talk about the subject because it was not in good taste.But they did know that it was a future King of Norway and Sweden. Naturally I would like to discover more about it.He married and had 11 children. Some of then were named names that could mean something. For example..Wilhelmena Charlotte ,Carl Adrian Constantine, Helena Sophia, Louisa Sarah. So maybe that might ring a bell with people who might read this?
Regards, Maureen.

 

[Furienna]

That's interesting, Mauree. It sounds like your great great grandfather very well could have been the future king Carl XV. And that would make you distantly related to the Swedish royal family, and even closer related to the Danish, Norvegian, Belgian and Luxembourgish royal families.

 

[Mauree]

My Great Great Grandfather

That's interesting, Mauree. It sounds like your great great grandfather very well could have been the future king Carl XV. And that would make you distantly related to the Swedish royal family, and even closer related to the Danish, Norvegian, Belgian and Luxembourgish royal families.

Yes, Thankyou for replying. My Great grandfather was sent to work for Queen Victoria and later came to New Zealand where I was told that he received personal letters from Queen Victoria. He seemed to have plenty of money and bought 60 acers of land just outside of Palmerston North in the north Island. He had other land holdings too and had a big house. He ended up buy gambling away the fortune he had and the house burnt to the ground!

 

[grandlordbenji16]

i strongly belive that lovisa does carl xv a favor as she was of full of royal blood unlike her husband who has his maternal grandmother as a royalty and all the other nobles.I heard that many royal houses turn down bernadotte down for the hands of their princess or princes marriage since many of them refuse to recognize them as equal and the bernadotte has to face the humiliation of marrying themselves into unimportant princesses now i understand why the swedish royal family refuse to allow their members marrying outside the european royal family since they already have the stigma of being commoner-royal they want to have full royal in their family

 

[Furienna]

Yes, the Bernadottes were considered as "upstarts" for a while. But for the last 130 years, they've been considered equals to every other royal house in Europe. And it's a good thing, that royals may marry commoners these days.

 

[thing1]

Mauree,
That sounds similar to the rumors of my family. Supposedly my great-great-grandmother, Anna Charlotte Wilemsdotter (some places written Anna Charlotta, born May 1835), is the illegitimate daughter of Oscar I and Lisa Maya Sten. I dont know what happened to Lisa, but Anna married Lars Holmquist and moved from to Minnesota, USA around 1885 and died as Anna Holmquist in 1918. I have seen references to Västmanland, Sweden and Nora, Sweden, but don't know much more.

I'd be curious to know if anyone has research ideas?

 

[Irishwayusa]

My Great Grandmother, Schanna Bernadette Carlson, was rumored to be the illegitimate daughter of Karl XV. She was born in 1869.

 

[JR76]

King Karl XV is rumoured to have fathered several children with different women. Especially around the summer residence Bäckaskog castle the story tells the houses on the estate was full of dark haired children he sired with local girls.
These stories should be taken with a pinch of salt though. He did have some illegitimate children but if he did father all the children he's said to have done I'm surprised he had time doing anything else.


Sent from my iPhone using The Royals Community mobile app

 

[CyrilVladisla]

In Emperors, Kings & Queens, Sonya Newland wrote:

Charles XV believed that the three Scandanavian kingdoms should be united if not politically, at least in the face they presented to the rest of the world.
​

 

[terresamarie]

Ladies in waiting for Queen Louisa ?

My great-great grandmother Ingrid Carlson born in 1840 in Sweeden was said to have been a lady of waiting for the queen of Sweden.King Karl XV & Queen Louisa reign would be the right period of time. Was there record keeping of the ladies of waiting? Ingrid was married in 1863 and immigrated to the United States in 1868. Would appreciate any input on this. Thank you

 

[Furienna]

Yeah, it must have been Queen Lovisa. Unless it was her mother-in-law, Queen Josephina.

 

[Sabrinalynn]

Very interesting .... I too am currently reasearching a possible distant connection to King Carl as it has been told that my ancestors (Iverson) lived in Smaalenne, Norway on an estate by the name of Mosted or Morstad where my great, great, great grandfather Iver Olson Mosted lived and as the story goes the Iversons are descended somehow from King Carl. That being said I've also read that he owned the Mosted (Morstad) estate where they lived in What is now known as Rodene, Ostfold

 

[Furienna]

Carl XV had several affairs with many different women (even though he had a growing esteem for Queen Lovisa, it seems to have been impossible for him to stay faithful to her), so there must be many illegitimate descendants out there. He was king of Norway as well as of Sweden, so it sounds very likely that he had an estate in Vestfold as well.