The French King of Sweden
<p>Jean Bernadotte’s dad, a local prosecutor in the southwestern French city of Pau, intended for his son to follow in his footsteps as a lawyer. Instead, Jean became heir to the Swedish Crown on September 26th, 1810, and his descendants still sit on the Swedish throne to this day.</p><br><p>Shortly after he moved to Sweden, the new crown prince was joined by his wife, Désirée, and their 11-year-old son, Oscar. But it's fair to say Désirée wasn’t exactly enamoured with the new land her husband was set to rule; she swiftly returned to France and didn’t come back for another 13 years.</p><br><p>In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly look into why Napoleon became an accidental Swedish kingmaker; explore why it is best to do all your conquering just before declaring yourself to be neutral; and ask why no one has yet made any of us the monarch of their country.</p><br><p><strong>Further Reading:</strong></p><p>• ‘Centenary of Sweden’s proud Bernadotte dynasty’ (The New York Times, 1910): <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1910/05/15/archives/centenary-of-swedens-proud-bernadotte-dynasty-founded-one-hundred.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/1910/05/15/archives/centenary-of-swedens-proud-bernadotte-dynasty-founded-one-hundred.html</a>&nbsp;</p><p>• ‘The French Army Officer Who Became a Scandinavian King’ (Real Scandinavia, 2019): <a href="http://realscandinavia.com/jean-bernadotte-the-french-soldier-who-became-king-of-sweden/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://realscandinavia.com/jean-bernadotte-the-french-soldier-who-became-king-of-sweden/</a>&nbsp;</p><p>• ‘A Royal family keeping up with the times’ (The Swedish Royal Palace, 2019): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bTZDGn4SUE" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bTZDGn4SUE</a>&nbsp;</p><br><p><strong>Love the show? Join&nbsp;</strong>🌴 <strong>CLUB RETROSPECTORS</strong>&nbsp;🌴 <strong>to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!</strong></p><p>Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast.</p><p><strong>Join now via&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://apple.co/3xCWWQX" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Apple Podcasts</strong></a><strong>&nbsp;or&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://patreon.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Patreon</strong></a><strong>.&nbsp;</strong>Thanks!</p><br><p><strong>We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:</strong><a href="https://create.acast.com/episodes/ca1f94a1-0921-446a-ae00-4d4bfd2ba3ef/podfollow.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>&nbsp;</strong></a><a href="http://podfollow.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>podfollow.com/Retrospectors</strong></a></p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
Today In History with The Retrospectors
Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (pdst.fm) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.
Show Notes
Jean Bernadotte’s dad, a local prosecutor in the southwestern French city of Pau, intended for his son to follow in his footsteps as a lawyer. Instead, Jean became heir to the Swedish Crown on September 26th, 1810, and his descendants still sit on the Swedish throne to this day.
Shortly after he moved to Sweden, the new crown prince was joined by his wife, Désirée, and their 11-year-old son, Oscar. But it's fair to say Désirée wasn’t exactly enamoured with the new land her husband was set to rule; she swiftly returned to France and didn’t come back for another 13 years.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly look into why Napoleon became an accidental Swedish kingmaker; explore why it is best to do all your conquering just before declaring yourself to be neutral; and ask why no one has yet made any of us the monarch of their country.
Further Reading:
• ‘Centenary of Sweden’s proud Bernadotte dynasty’ (The New York Times, 1910): https://www.nytimes.com/1910/05/15/archives/centenary-of-swedens-proud-bernadotte-dynasty-founded-one-hundred.html
• ‘The French Army Officer Who Became a Scandinavian King’ (Real Scandinavia, 2019): http://realscandinavia.com/jean-bernadotte-the-french-soldier-who-became-king-of-sweden/
• ‘A Royal family keeping up with the times’ (The Swedish Royal Palace, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bTZDGn4SUE
Love the show? Join 🌴 CLUB RETROSPECTORS 🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!
Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast.
Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!
We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/Retrospectors
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices