Family
John married his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland (1526–83), house of Jagiello, in Vilnius on 4 October 1562. In Sweden, she is known as Katarina Jagellonica. She was the sister of king Sigismund II Augustus of Poland. Their children were:
- Isabella (1564–66)
- Sigismund King of Sweden (1592–99), and King of Poland (1587–1632), Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania
- Anna (1568–1625)
He married his second wife Gunilla Bielke (1568–c. 1592) on 21 February 1584; they had a son:
- John (Johan) (1589–1618), firstly Duke of Finland, then from 1608 Duke of Ostrogothia. The young duke married his first cousin Maria Elisabet (1596–1618), daughter of Charles IX of Sweden (reigned 1599–1611)
Together with his mistress Karin Hansdotter (1532–96) he had at least four illegitimate children:
- Julius Gyllenhielm (1559–81)
- Augustus (1557–60)
- Sofia (1556–83), who married Pontus De la Gardie
- Lucretia (1560–85)
John cared for Karin and their children even after he married Catherine Jagellonica, in 1562. He got Karin a husband that would care for her and the children: in 1561, she married the nobleman Klas Andersson (Västgöte), a friend and servant of John. They had a daughter named Brita. He continued supporting Karin and his illegitimate children as a king, from 1568. In 1572 Karin married again, as her first husband was murdered by Erik XIV in 1563, to a Lars Henrikson, whom John ennobled in 1576 to care for his issue with Karin. The same year, he made his daughter Sofia a lady in the castle, as a servant to his sister Princess Elisabet. In 1580, John married her to Pontus de la Gardie. She later died giving birth to Jacob De la Gardie.
Read more about this topic: John III Of Sweden
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