THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SWEDEN
The present reigning family of Sweden is too young to be very
numerous, and in this brief survey it is well to begin with a bit of
information about that grand democratic monarch, Oscar II, passed away
less than two years ago. How the Bernadotte dynasty was formed has
already been shown in a previous chapter, and something of the kings,
who succeeded the former Field Marshal of France has also been
related, so that we have in these few pages simply to deal with Oscar
II, the late king, and his four sons and their families.
Oscar's grandfather, the originator of the Bernadotte dynasty, was
still on the throne when he was born, in 1829, as the third son of
Crown Prince Oscar and the beautiful Josephine of Leuchtenberg. He
seemed far removed from the throne then, and thus he found freedom
to develop himself more in keeping with his individual tastes and
inclinations. Another factor to be borne in mind is the character of
his governor and principal instructor, the historian, F.F. Carlson,
who gave to his pupil a fondness for scientific exactness as well as
an insight into the true causes of civilizatory development found none
too frequently in professional thinkers, and hardly ever in princes.
The things that drew him most strongly in those days were the sea, and
music.
One of the foremost of Swedish composers, A.F. Lindblad, taught him
the latter, while his fondness for the former was richly satisfied
during the years when he worked his way through the ranks of the
Swedish navy. And his position on board the various man-of-war's-men
in which he traveled on many seas was never merely ornamental or even
exceptional. He took not only the title but also the work of the
offices he held, from midshipman to admiral.
It was characteristic of him, too, that when he married, he did so
out of love. On a tour through several countries; in 1856, he was
fortunate enough to meet Princess Sophia of Nassau. The courtship was
brief and ardent. Within a few months occurred the engagement, and the
wedding followed in less than a year. To the last that royal couple
remained strongly devoted to each other in spite of widely differing
tastes and temperaments. She has all her life been intensely
religious, with a strong leaning toward pietism, and illness has still
further developed this inborn tendency. He, on the other hand, was
always gay, light-hearted, fond of merriment, and given to many
pleasures and pursuits which his spouse could only look upon as far
too worldly.
Duke Oscar Frederick, as he was known in those early days, found
himself heir to the throne after death had unexpectedly removed the
two claimants with rights prior to his own. And on the succession of
his eldest brother, he became the Crown Prince. It was a delicate
position which imposed on him a reserve foreign to his nature. As it
contrasted sharply with the unceremonious jollity of his brother, King
Charles, he came by degrees to be regarded by those ignorant of his
true character with a distrust bordering on dislike. Thus, when the
succession fell to him in 1872, he found himself little understood and
less loved. It took him years to overcome the prejudice. Perhaps it
was his sanction of the impeachment proceedings by the Norwegian
Radicals against the retiring Conservative ministry which, in the
early '80's, first served to turn the trend of public opinion in his
favor, both in Sweden and Norway. That act was one of the many by
which he showed his ability to submit his own inclinations to the
demands of the people without becoming a mere tool in the hands of
any one political party. About the same time he succeeded in bringing
about a deeply needed and by himself long-cherished reform of the
popular educational system in Sweden. Previously,--it was, in fact,
his first important step after his ascension to the throne,--he had on
his own initiative proclaimed full freedom of worship for persons not
belonging to the established church.
A Scandinavianism of the purely sentimental kind,--the kind that
talked without ever dreaming of putting the talk into deeds,--had
prevailed until then on the peninsula. Intermixed with it was an
equally sentimental sympathy with France. Though himself the grandson
of a Frenchman and still keenly devoted to French literature and art,
King Oscar had the foresightedness to recognize that the interests of
the country were more closely bound up with those of Germany. And one
of the most striking features of his reign was the growing cultural
intercourse between the nations in the north and their neighbor south
of the Baltic. And while the king discouraged the speech-making, empty
Scandinavianism against which Ibsen was fond of launching his most
vitriolic invectives, he fostered instead a fellow-feeling between
Sweden, Norway and Denmark that found its expression in practical
co-operation, in the equalization of commercial and industrial
regulations, in the breaking down of as many as possible of the
unnecessary barriers between them. As the years passed on and the
trend of his labors became understood and appreciated, he found a part
of his reward in a steadily increasing respect for him throughout
the civilized world, a respect that repeatedly found expression in
requests that he act as arbiter of international differences. He had
always been fond of traveling, and this fondness he continued to
indulge up to the last. Unlike those of some other monarchs having a
similar taste, his comings and goings on the Continent were always the
objects of pleasant and welcoming comment. If gossip had to name King
Christian of Denmark "the father-in-law of all Europe," King Oscar was
surely "the friend of all the world." Apace with his own fame grew
the prosperity of his people. On either side of the Kjölen his reign
marked an era of unprecedented economical, social, and spiritual
progress which not even the internal dissensions of the sister nation
could interrupt.
King Oscar's motto was _Brödrafolkens Väl_ "The Brother-Peoples Weal!"
The Scandinavian peninsula is still populated by brother-peoples, as
was indicated at the time of the death of the old king. It was the
week for the distribution in Norway of the Nobel prizes, always
attended in Christiania with great rejoicing and merry-making. On this
occasion all demonstration was prohibited, and the Norwegian capital
was almost as much in mourning as was Stockholm. Though entirely
devoted to the new order of things, the Norwegians did not forget,
nor will they forget, the character of the king who ruled them for
a generation. More democratic than the Swedes, they were peculiarly
attached personally, if not politically, to one whom they felt to be
really of like democratic instincts with themselves, even if he did
show himself every inch a king.
Not only as a ruler, but as a father, King Oscar was both wise and
fortunate. Four sons came to him through his marriage, and these have
proved men of his own type. The Crown Prince Gustave was born just one
year after the marriage of his parents, on June 16th, at the Castle
of Drottingholm, in the year 1858; Prince Oscar, known as Prince
Bernadotte, was born on Nov. 15, 1859, at Stockholm; Prince Carl on
Feb. 27, 1861, also at Stockholm; while the youngest, Prince Eugene,
like his eldest brother, first saw the light at the Castle of
Drottingholm, on Aug. 1, 1865. As has been previously stated, the
Crown Prince (now king) was married to the Princess Victoria of Bade,
granddaughter of Emperor William I of Germany, and great-granddaughter
of the exiled Gustavus IV of Sweden. The third son, Prince Carl, is
wedded to his cousin, the Princess Ingeborg of Denmark, which was
a source of great satisfaction to King Oscar and Queen Sophie. The
youngest son, Prince Eugene, is devoted to art, and spends much time
out of the country. Never did King Oscar do more to win the approval
of his subjects, and thinking men and women everywhere, than when he
permitted the marriage of his second son, Prince Oscar, to a young
Swedish noblewoman, Fröken Ebba Munck, of Fulkila, who was also Queen
Sophie's maid-of-honor. While the prince had to renounce his right of
succession and his position as a royal prince of Sweden, his relations
to his father and the other members of the royal family remained the
same.
Of this incident in the history of the royal family of Sweden, the
following story is told:
The Queen interceded long and persistently with her husband for
permission for her second son to be married to the woman he loved.
Although the Munck family had played a very important part in the
history of the nation, the king was opposed to the _mésalliance_. "It
is Oscar's duty to be true to himself and to his love," she used to
say. But the king, who was not wont to refuse any of the wishes of
his consort, steadily refused to sanction the union. There were many
things against such a marriage, for Prince Oscar was the second son
of the king, and the very fact that the reigning House of Norway and
Sweden was one of the most youthful of the royal houses of Europe made
it all the more necessary that its scions should intermarry with the
members of the ancient reigning houses.
About this time the queen was seized with one of her serious attacks
of illness, and her state was such that at one time her life was
despaired of. Her physicians declared that her only hope of recovery
lay in an instant operation, which was both dangerous and extremely
painful.
The queen called the king to her bedside, and said, "If I undergo this
operation and recover, will you allow Oscar and Ebba to have their
way?" The king was unable to resist such an appeal, made at such a
time, and gave his promise. A short time afterwards the operation was
successfully performed, and when the queen was convalescent, the king
redeemed his promise and gave his consent to the marriage of his
second son. It was on Christmas Eve, and the king had come to his
wife's apartments to see her. He found Ebba Munck and his son Oscar
with her. The maid-of-honor was, at the time of his entrance, singing
one of his poems to Her Majesty, which, oddly enough, was on the
subject of the right to love. After waiting until the song was ended,
the king went up to his son, and, leading him to the girl, laid his
hand in hers, in this manner signifying that he had withdrawn his
opposition to their plans.
The marriage has proved a most happy one. Prince Oscar has found
perfect content, and has been able to follow his career as a
philanthropist. The wedding took place at Bournemouth, in the presence
of the queen of Sweden, on March 15, 1888, and for some time after it
the prince and his wife were known as Prince and Princess Bernadotte;
but later the uncle of Prince Oscar, the Grand Duke of Luxemburg, gave
him the title of the Count of Wisborg for himself and his descendants.
When their children were born, Prince Oscar and his wife proclaimed
them as the children of Oscar and Ebba Bernadotte, and, during
their entire married life, they have lived as quietly and simply as
possible, and have found their greatest interest in working for the
poor and suffering. They have a son and a daughter, the former, Count
Carl Oscar, having been born on May 27, 1890, and the latter, the
Countess Marie, on February 28, 1889; and three other children.
And so, as the years went by, a third generation grew up in the palace
at Stockholm,--a brood of long-limbed and broad-shouldered sons with
wholesome tastes and bright minds and kindly temperaments. And at
last, when the king was seventy-eight years old, a great-grandchild
was laid in his arms,--the first son of Prince Gustavus Adolphus (now
the Crown Prince) and the Princess Margaret of Connaught.
Up to the last King Oscar remained active and interested in all public
affairs. Though he had experienced several brief but rather severe
illnesses of late years, the end came without warning, after a few
days of indisposition, on Dec. 8, 1907. A kindly "thanks" for a small
favor rendered him by a member of his family was the last word heard
from his lips. Previously he had expressed his wish to the members of
his cabinet that no interruption in public or private business be made
on account of his death.
King Gustavus V, who took the oath of office within a few hours of his
father's death, has suffered something resembling his father's fate
as Crown Prince. Overshadowed by the more brilliant gifts and more
attractive personality of the parent, he was for years spoken of in
rather a disparaging manner in Sweden, while in Norway he harvested
outright hatred in return for his determined upholding of the union.
On frequent occasions during the last decade of his father's reign, he
acted as vice-regent while his father was sick or traveling, and in
this way he found chances to display qualities that gradually changed
the popular regard of him from one of suspicion to one of hearty
respect. His near-sightedness, his serious-mindedness, have militated
against him, but it seems probable that he will prove the very _best_
ruler Sweden could desire at the present juncture. He is slow to make
up his mind, and will not do so until he has searched every phase
and detail of the problem before him, but once he has come to a
conclusion, he pursues his path without looking to the right or left.
Gustavus is fifty years old, tall, rather dark, quite unassuming, and
is essentially democratic, while seeming the opposite, whereas Oscar
was aristocratic, although he made much of the people. Like all other
Swedish kings, Gustavus adopted a motto when he ascended the throne;
it is "With the People for the Fatherland"--not inappropriate in view
of his inheritance of a problem clamoring for solution, the extension
of the suffrage and a more direct representation of the people in both
the upper and lower houses of the Riksdag. The new king, who possesses
an uncommon amount of energy, may probably be depended upon to
accomplish this reform.
There is neither pride of an objectionable type, nor any tendency to
tyranny, nor one strain of arrogance in the new king. He may not be
able to draw upon such ripe culture or upon such fine talents as the
monarch who preceded him, yet the Swedes have no fear that his love of
truth and justice will not outweigh this deficiency and probably make
him a more practical ruler. As for the French descent of the Swedish
royal house, neither the present nor the late king have ever been
ashamed of their ancestry, or forgotten that the first Bernadotte on
their throne was one of Napoleon's greatest marshals.
Never will Gustavus V be able to give to words or actions that
brilliantly original and kingly tone for which his late father was so
admired everywhere. That, to the mind of all beholders, is to be the
drawback of his reign, for he is the merest mortal; where his father
was the luminous angel. Where Oscar would have been finely eloquent,
Gustavus shows himself merely sensible. Oscar's temper was heated,
his emotions were forever coming to the surface. Gustave is, if more
poised, less interesting. He has always been addicted to manly sports
and exercises. He has often been observed to "put up" an excellent
game of tennis at the club in Stockholm. But he is without the alert
and springy step of the old Oscar, whose muscles remained taut and
elastic almost to his dying day. Gustave lacks the literary aptitudes
of his late father, likewise, who left a well-filled book of verse
which admirers all over Europe did into French, German, Italian,
Danish, and even Hungarian. Gustave has not inherited his mother's
musical genius, either. She was at one time a devotee of Wagner, a
disciple of Kant, and always a pious evangelical of the German
cast. From both his parents Gustave received every encouragement to
proficiency in music. Music, to the late Oscar, was, both in theory
and practice, an essential element in the intellectual life. Gustave
is less the artist than the practical king.
He encourages international congresses of every kind to come to
Sweden; he helps the universities and the cause of education
throughout his kingdom; he feels his father's interest in Hedin's
travels through central Asia, but he can give no creative impulse
after his father's grand fashion. Oscar was the man of ideas, the
vitalizer of projects literary, musical, dramatic and scientific. He
made Stockholm the capital of the whole intellectual world. Gustave is
very courteous, affable in a dignified way, impressive as he opens the
Riksdag in royal ermine. He has commenced his reign in simplicity,
rising at eight, breakfasting on coffee and rolls, reading the morning
papers until ten, and reviewing the military with a conscientious
assiduity. His note is repose both in manner and in speech, in
striking contrast with the late Oscar, who was majestic in the very
way he had of eating cold meat at supper, and whose height of six feet
three towered, almost without the drooping heaviness of age, till his
seventy-ninth year. Notwithstanding the adverse comparison with his
parent, one has but to see Gustave's face, with its determination and
refinement, to feel a certain assurance as to Sweden's future.
It is a curious fact that there has been such a dearth of girls in the
Swedish royal family, the only princess of the house being the Crown
Princess of Denmark, a daughter of the late King Charles XV. The
present queen has only sons: Crown Prince Gustavus Adolphus, wedded to
Margaret of Connaught; Prince Wilhelm, who was recently married to
the Russian Princess Marie Palvona, and Prince Erik, now about twenty
years of age. The present Crown Prince and Princess are seemingly
perpetuating the tradition, as their first child is a lusty little
son.
Queen Victoria is said to be endowed with an instinct for business of
every kind far finer and more efficient than that of her husband, and
it is to be regretted that her health is so frail that she is obliged
to spend much time outside her husband's realm, and the duties of her
royal dignity devolve upon her daughter-in-law, the Crown Princess.
It is very satisfying to the Swedish people that by a strange play
of circumstances, the claims of the extinct House of Vasa,--the last
direct descendant of which passed away a few days after King Oscar,
in the person of Carola, Dowager-Queen of Saxony, and daughter of the
deposed King Gustavus Adolphus IV of Sweden,--are again restored, and
that the reigning House of Bernadotte and the ancient House of Vasa
have become joined through the present Crown Prince. It is something
to consider, too, that Adolphus V is the first of the Bernadotte
dynasty in whose veins, through his mother, Sophie of Nassau, there
flows royal blood.[k]