Charles XIV John of Sweden - Offer of The Swedish Throne

Offer of The Swedish Throne

Bernadotte, considerably piqued, returned to Paris where the council of ministers entrusted him with the defence of the Netherlands against the British expedition in Walcheren. In 1810, he was about to enter upon his new post as governor of Rome when he was unexpectedly elected the heir-presumptive to King Charles XIII of Sweden, who was childless and old.

He was elected partly because a large part of the Swedish Army, in view of future complications with Russia, were in favour of electing a soldier, and partly because Bernadotte was also very popular in Sweden, owing to the kindness he had shown to the Swedish prisoners during the recent war with Denmark. The issue of an heir-presumptive to the Swedish throne had become acute since the previous crown prince Charles August had died of a stroke on 28 May 1810, just a few months after he had arrived in Sweden.

The matter was decided by one of the Swedish courtiers, Baron Karl Otto Mörner, who, entirely on his own initiative, offered the succession to the Swedish crown to Bernadotte. Bernadotte communicated Mörner's offer to Napoleon, who treated the whole affair as an absurdity. The Emperor did not support Bernadotte but did not oppose him either and so Bernadotte informed Mörner that he would not refuse the honor if he were elected. Although the Swedish government, amazed at Mörner's effrontery, at once placed him under arrest on his return to Sweden, the candidature of Bernadotte gradually gained favor and on 21 August 1810 in Örebro, he was elected by the Riksdag of the Estates to be the new Crown Prince, and was susequently made Generalissimus of the Swedish Armed Forces by the King. Later that year he renounced the title of Prince of Ponte Corvo.