Bernadotte

Bernadotte, Jean Baptiste Jules, King Charles XIV. of Sweden and Norway, was born in 1764 at Pau. His father was a lawyer, and he too was educated for the bar. In 1780, however, he enlisted as a private in the royal marines, and in 1789 had attained no higher than the rank of sergeant. After the Revolution his promotion was more rapid, and in 1792 he was made a colonel, in 1793 a general of brigade, and soon after a general of division. In the Rhine and Italian campaigns he bore himself with distinction as a soldier, and in the conduct of a difficult embassy to Austria he showed that he was a diplomatist as well. While Napoleon was in Egypt he was appointed minister of war, and though between these two there was considerable rivalry, yet on the establishment of the empire Bernadotte was made a marshal, and in 1806 was created Prince Ponte-Corvo. In 1810, the heir to the Swedish throne dying, Bernadotte was nominated by the Swedish States in Council as the successor to Charles XIII. He immediately devoted all his energies to the service of his adopted country, ascending the throne in 1818. He died, after a successful reign, in 1844.