King Oscar II (1829-1907) and Sofia of Nassau (1836-1913)

[EliseLadyofLancaster]

Here is a picture of King Oscar the Second:

http://www.nb.no/html/oscarii.html

 

[Josefine]

can we get some facts on this king

 

[Marengo]

King Oscar II and Queen Sofia of Sweden & Norway

King Oscar II (1829-1907) and Queen Sofia (1836-1913) of Sweden and Norway

This thread is about King Oscar II Frederikof Sweden and Norway (January 21, 1829 - December 8, 1907) and Queen Sofia Wilhelmina Mariana Henrietta of Sweden and Norway, nee Princess of Nassau-Weilburg (July 9, 1836 - December 30, 1913).

Sons: King Gustav V, Prince Oscar, Prince Carl and Prince Eugen of Sweden

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

Parents Sofia: Duke Wilhelm of Nassau and Princess Pauline of Wurttemberg

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

Siblings Sofia: Princess Helene of Waldeck-Pyrmont and Prince Nicolaus of Nassau-Weilburg

Halfsiblings Sofia: Princess Auguste of Nassau-Weilburg, Duchess Therese of Oldenburg, Grand Duke Adolphe of Luxembourg, Prince Wilhelm, Prince Moritz, Princess Marie and Prince Friedrich of Nassau-Weilburg and Fuerstin Marie of Wied

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

 

[Marengo]

King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway (January 21, 1829 - December 8, 1907), born Oscar Frederik, ruled Norway from 1872 until 1905 and Sweden from 1872 until his death. The third son of King Oscar I of Sweden and Josephine of Leuchtenberg, he was a descendant of Gustav I of Sweden through his mother.

At his birth in Stockholm, Oscar Frederik was created Duke of Östergötland. He entered the navy at the age of eleven, and was appointed junior lieutenant in July 1845. Later he studied at Uppsala University, where he distinguished himself in mathematics. On June 6, 1857 he married Princess Sophia Wilhelmina, youngest daughter of Duke William of Nassau.
He succeeded his brother Charles XV, on September 18, 1872, and was crowned as king of Norway in the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim on July 18, 1873. At the accession he adopted as his motto Brödrafolkens väl/Broderfolkenes Vel ("The Welfare of the Brother Peoples"). While the King and the Royal Court resided mostly in Sweden, Oscar made the effort of learning to be fluent in Norwegian and from the very beginning he realized the essential difficulties in the maintenance of the union between the two countries. The political events which led up to the peaceful dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905 could hardly have been attained but for the tact and patience of the king himself. He declined, indeed, to permit any prince of his house to become king of Norway, but better relations between the two countries were restored before his death, which occurred at Stockholm on the December 8, 1907.

Read the entire wikipedia article here.

 

[Marengo]

Princess Sofia Wilhelmina Mariana Henrietta of Nassau, (July 9, 1836 - December 30, 1913), was Queen consort of Sweden and Norway.
She was a daughter of Wilhelm, Duke of Nassau and his second wife Pauline Friederica Marie Princess of Württemberg.

The marriage was the first in the Royal house that was not completely arranged. Though the match was considered very suitable, the couple was allowed to make their own decision on the basis of their feelings, and generally, their marriage was considered happy. Sophia was received with enormous enthusiasm when she arrived in Sweden in 1857 because the then crown prince and his consort were not expected to produce an heir. Sophia was therefore de facto crown princess, though she did not receive the title officially until 1859.

Read the entire wikipedia article here.

 

[Marengo]

The couple had four children, the first one was Prince Oscar Gustav Adolf of Sweden and Norway, Duke of Värmland (Drottningholm 16 June 1858-Stockholm 29 October 1950), who became King Gustav V of Sweden when his father died. He married at Karlsruhe on 20 September 1881 Princess Viktoria of Baden (Karlsruhe 7 Augustus, 1862-Rome 4 April, 1930)

Read more about King Gustav V in this thread at the Swedish historical subforum.

 

[Marengo]

The couple´s second son was Prince Oscar Carl August of Sweden and Norway (Drottningholm 15 November, 1859 - Stockholm 4 October, 1953), after his marriage to Ebba Henrietta Munck af Filkila (Jönköping 15 March 1858-Stockholm 16 October 1946) he lost his Swedish titles and became Count of Wisborg.

Read more about Oscar Bernadotte, his wife Ebba and his descendants (including the famous Count Folke Bernadotte af Wisborg) in this thread at the Swedish historical subforum of TRF.

 

[Marengo]

Their third son was Prince Oscar Carl Vilhelm of Sweden,Duke of Västergötland (February 27, 1861 – October 24, 1951), who married in Copenhagen on 27 August 1897 Princess Ingeborg Charlotte Caroline Frederike of Denmark (2 August, 1878 - 11 March, 1958)

Read more about Prince Carl, his wife Princess Ingeborg and his four children in this thread at the Swedish historical subforum of TRF.

 

[Marengo]

The couple´s last son was Prince Prince Eugén Napoleon Nicolaus of Sweden and Norway, Duke of Närke (August 1, 1865 – August 17, 1947)

Read more about Prince Eugen in this thread at the Swedish historical subforum of TRF.

 

[Marengo]

Oscar II at his coronation: ...........Oscar II in the middle, on a boat and surrounded by relatives:

 

[Marengo]

From Getty images, the Swedish RF, Oscar II is the old man that is seated, Queen Sofia is the 2nd lady from the right.

This website has several nice images if the Swedish royals, like:

King Oscar II, Crownprince Gustav and Prince Gustav-Adolf

A nice drawing of the Swedish Royal Family

The same one, but done in colour

A painting showing some Kings of Sweden, with Oscar II in the middle

 

[Marengo]

From the website luth.se:

Sofia was the daughter of duke Wilhelm of Nassau and Pauline of Württemberg, The 6:th of Jun. 1857 she married in Biebrich with Crownprince Oscar of Sweden. 1872 she became queen of Sweden and Norway whereafter the crowning took place the following year.

Queen Sofia was strong person with religious interest. 1877 she went under a large operation which forced her to withdraw from the public life for some time. 1907 she became a widow and 1913 she died on the 30:th Dec. at Stockholms castle. She spent a lot of effort on charity, she founded 'hemmet för frigivna kvinnor', Sophiahemmet and Kung Oscars och Sofias Guldbröllopshem. She got four children, the sons Gustaf, Oscar, Carl and Eugen.

Some more pictures of Queen Sofia:

 

[Marengo]

Oscar II and Sofia together:

 

[Marengo]

Some more pïctures of Oscar II:

 

[Marengo]

And even more:

 

[Marengo]

King Oscar II (middle, with white beard) and guests, posing for a picture before the hunt: ...Another image of Oscar:

 

[Marengo]

A picture of an old Oscar II and his wife Sofia. On the left his 3rd son Carl and his wife Ingeborg of Denmark.

 

[Marengo]

A special pictures with 4 generations, seated King Oscar II, holding his great grandson Gusaf-Adolf (father of the present King of Sweden), behind him Oscars son Gustav (the future Gustav V) and his grandson Gustav-Adolf (the future Gustav VI-Adolf):

 

[Stefan]

Halfsiblings Sofia: Princess Auguste of Nassau-Weilburg, Duchess Therese of Oldenburg, Grand Duke Adolphe of Luxembourg, Prince Wilhelm, Prince Moritz, Princess Marie and Prince Friedrich of Nassau-Weilburg and Queen Elisabeth of Roumania

Queen Elisabeth of Roumania was not a halfsister of Queen Sofia. Her mother Fürstin Marie zu Wied was.

 

[Marengo]

Thanks Stefan, a slip of the keyboard I have changed it now. Marie of Wieds daughter-in-law was Princess Marie of The Netherlands btw, whose sister Louise was married to Oscar II´s elder brother King Carl XV.

 

[Helena]

Does anybody know how Oscar and Sofia met? Of course all was arranged but I have read that it was some ordeal to get acceptable candidates for the Bernadotte´s at that time, as it was generally considered a parvenu dynasty. Prince Frederik of Holland was the first sheep over the bridge of course, when he let his daughter Luise marry Carl.

 

[Furienna]

Well, really, for a princess of a small princinpality like Nassau, marrying the heir presumtive of Sweden and Norway can't have been that bad. But you're right. Many other royals didn't think the Bernadottes were real royals yet at the time.

 

[Marengo]

A nice picture of Queen Sophia in 1902, with two of her grandchildren...

 

[Furienna]

Aaah... But who are the grandchildren?

 

[Hans-Rickard]

It is Prince Carls daughters Margaretha and Märtha.

 

[Meraude]

Today it's 99 years since queen Sofia of Sweden died. The marriage between Sophie (as she herself preferred her name) and Oscar was not completely arranged, the couple met in 1856 at the home of Sophie's half-sister Marie, princess of Wied, and the couple was allowed to decide whether they wanted to get married on the basis of their feelings, and the marriage was considered to be a happy one (for most of the time).

Sophie was a popular queen, also in Norway, which was a part of the Swedish kingdom and she spent much time there. She was involved in many social projects, and also in the nursing profession and she founded the hospital Sophiahemmet in 1887, still known for its education of nurses.

She became a widow in 1907, and retired mostly from public life. Her last appearance was on December 3, 1913, when 15 students was to be installed as Sophia nurses, one of them was her granddaughter Maria Bernadotte af Wisborg.

 

[Furienna]

I don't know if anybody has said this yet in this thread, but Sophia's brother became the first grandduke of Luxembourg. So the Swedish royal family and the Luxembourg royal family are distant like 4th or 5th cousins.

 

[An Ard Ri]

I don't know if anybody has said this yet in this thread, but Sophia's brother became the first grandduke of Luxembourg. So the Swedish royal family and the Luxembourg royal family are distant like 4th or 5th cousins.

He wasn't the first Grand Duke of Luxembourg,he was the first monarch of Luxembourg from the House of Nassau-Weilburg.

Prior to that William I,II and III of the Netherlands held the title Grand Duke of Luxembourg.Upon the death of William III it passed to Adolphe in accordance to the Salic law which bypassed Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.

 

[Furienna]

Right... But he was the first monarch of Luxembourg of his dynasty.

 

[An Ard Ri]

Right... But he was the first monarch of Luxembourg of his dynasty.

Yes I believe that is what I wrote above,he was the first monarch of Luxembourg from the House of Nassau-Weilburg.