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Charles XIV John
Carl XIV John of Sweden & Norway c 1840.jpg
Portrait by François Gérard
King of Sweden and Norway
Reign 5 February 1818 – 8 March 1844
Coronations 11 May 1818
(Stockholm Cathedral, Sweden)
7 September 1818
(Nidaros Cathedral, Norway)
Predecessor Charles XIII & II
Successor Oscar I
Prince of Pontecorvo
Reign 5 June 1806 – 21 August 1810
Predecessor Principality established
Successor Lucien Murat
Minister of War of the French Republic
In office
2 July 1799 – 14 September 1799
Preceded by Louis Marie de Milet de Mureau
Succeeded by Edmond Louis Alexis Dubois-Crancé
Born Jean Bernadotte, later Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, later Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte
(1763-01-26)26 January 1763
Pau, France
Died 8 March 1844(1844-03-08) (aged 81)
Stockholm, Sweden
Burial 26 April 1844
Riddarholm Church
Spouse
Désirée Clary
(m. 1796)
Issue Oscar I of Sweden
Full name
French: Jean-Baptiste Jules
Swedish: Karl Johan Baptist Julius
House Bernadotte
Father Henri Bernadotte
Mother Jeanne de Saint-Jean
Religion Lutheran
prev. Roman Catholic
Signature Charles XIV John's signature
Military career
Allegiance  Kingdom of France
Flag of France (1790-1794).svg Kingdom of France
France French Republic
France French Empire
Sweden Kingdom of Sweden
Union Jack of Sweden and Norway (1844-1905).svg United Kingdoms of Sweden-Norway
Years of service 1780–1844
Rank Marshal of the Empire And Generalissimo of the Swedish Armed Forces
Commands held Governor of Hanover
Governor of Ansbach
Governor of the Hanseatic Cities
Army of the Rhine (1798)
Army of the West
I Corps
IX Corps
Army of Antwerp
Allied Army of the North
Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces and Norwegian Armed Forces
Battles/wars French Revolutionary Wars
Napoleonic Wars
Awards Grand Master Order of the Seraphim
Grand Master Order of the Sword
Grand Master Order of the Polar Star
Grand Master Order of Vasa
Grand Collar Legion of Honour
Grand Cross of the Iron Cross
Order of St. George 1st Class
Order of the Iron Crown
Order of the Elephant
Military Order of Maria Theresa
Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe
Other work Councillor of State
Ambassador to the Court of Vienna and the Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary

Charles XIV John (Swedish and Norwegian: Karl XIV Johan; born Jean Bernadotte; 26 January 1763 – 8 March 1844) was King of Sweden and Norway from 1818 until his death. In modern Norwegian lists of kings he is called Charles III John. He was the first monarch of the Bernadotte dynasty.

Born in Pau in southern France, Bernadotte joined the French Royal Army in 1780. Following the outbreak of the French Revolution, he exhibited great military talent, rapidly rising through the ranks, and was made a brigadier general by 1794. He served with distinction in Italy and Germany, and was briefly Minister of War. His relationship with Napoleon was turbulent; nevertheless, Napoleon named him a Marshal of the Empire on the proclamation of the French Empire. Bernadotte played a significant role in the French victory at Austerlitz, and was made Prince of Pontecorvo as a reward. Bernadotte was, through marriage to Désirée Clary, brother-in-law to Joseph Bonaparte, and thus a member of the extended Imperial Family.

In 1810, Bernadotte was unexpectedly elected the heir-presumptive to the childless King Charles XIII of Sweden, thanks to the advocacy of Baron Carl Otto Mörner, a Swedish courtier and obscure member of the Riksdag of the Estates. He assumed the name Charles John and became the de facto regent and head of state. In 1813, following the sudden unprovoked French invasion of Swedish Pomerania, Crown Prince Charles John aligned Sweden with Napoleon's enemies in the Sixth Coalition, wherein he authored the Trachenberg Plan, the war winning Allied campaign plan, and commanded the Allied Army of the North that made the decisive attack on the last day of the catastrophic French defeat at Leipzig. Charles John forced the Danish king to cede Norway to Sweden after the War of the Sixth Coalition, leading to the Swedish-Norwegian war of 1814 where Norway was defeated after a single summer's conflict. This put Norway into a union with Sweden, which lasted for almost a century before being peacefully dissolved in 1905. The Swedish-Norwegian war of 1814 is credited as Sweden's last direct conflict and war.

Upon the death of Charles XIII in 1818, Charles John ascended to the throne. He presided over a period of peace and prosperity, and reigned until his death in 1844.

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