Charles I of the United Kingdoms of Scandinavia
| Charles I | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden | |||||
| Reign | 3 December 1839 - 11 February 1845 | ||||
| Coronation | 20 February 1840 | ||||
| Predecessor | Title established | ||||
| Successor | Charles II | ||||
| King of Sweden and Norway | |||||
| Reign | 5 February 1818 - 3 December 1839 | ||||
| Coronation | 11 May 1818 | ||||
| Predecessor | Charles XIII and II | ||||
| Successor | Himself (as King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) | ||||
| Governor-general of Norway | |||||
| Tenure | 25 July 1809 - 11 January 1810 | ||||
| Predecessor | Jacob Benzon | ||||
| Successor | Prince Frederik of Hesse | ||||
| Born | Christian August of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenborg 9 July 1768 Augustenborg Palace, Augustenborg, Denmark | ||||
| Died | 19 February 1845 (aged 76) Stockholm Palace, Stockholm, Sweden | ||||
| Burial | |||||
| Spouse | Princess Charlotte of Prussia (m. 1818) | ||||
| Issue | |||||
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| House | Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg | ||||
| Father | Friedrich Christian I, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg | ||||
| Mother | Charlotte of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön | ||||
| Religion | Church of Denmark | ||||
Charles I, or Carl I (9 July 1768 - 11 February 1845), better known as Charles the Unifier, was the first King of the United Kingdoms of Scandinavia. Originally a Danish prince serving as the Governor-general of Norway, he was adopted by the childless King Charles XIII of Sweden, whom he later succeeded upon the latter's death. On November 4th 1814, during the latter stages of the Napoleonic Wars, as the Swedish crown prince, he led a peaceful conquest of Norway from his former Danish overlord, King Frederick VI of Denmark. Ultimately, upon the latter's own death in 1839, which had left the Danish throne temporarily vacant due to the former king's lack of natural heirs, Charles, then the King of Sweden-Norway was elected as the new King of Denmark, thereby unifying the three Scandinavian kingdoms once more under one respective ruler since Sweden's own secession from the previous Kalmar Union almost three hundred years ago in 1539.
As King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Charles personally took part and spearheaded efforts into formalising and stabilising the union in its early years. Soon after its founding, Charles, with the assistance of all three Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish ministers, personally established the Constitution of 1839, which has since served as the sole constitution for the union following its inception.
Prior to his ascension to the throne, he was first married to his distant Oldenburg cousin, and granddaughter of King George III, Princess Louise Augusta of Denmark, with whom he had one child, the future King Charles II. Then, immediately following his ascension to the throne, presumably with the intent on securing the line of succession in the case of a premature death of his eldest son, he subsequently divorced his now middle-aged wife before successively marrying the much younger Princess Charlotte of Prussia, with whom he had four children.
Charles I, together with his two immediate successors, Charles II, and Charles III, are collectively known and remembered as "The Three Great Charles", with the period from the beginning of his reign as king of a unified Scandinavia until the end of the reign of his eldest grandson, Charles III, being named as the Great Carolean Era, or the Golden Carolean Century.
Early Life
Charles was born on July 9th 1786 at Augustenborg Palace as the youngest son of Frederick Christian I, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg and Princess Charlotte of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön. He only had a single younger brother, Frederik Christian II, Duke of Augustenborg.
Denmark-Norway
Military Exploits
Having initially studied at the Prussian city of Leipzig, Charles returned to Denmark in 1785, where upon his return, he was first made a lieutenant colonel, then a colonel two years later, before being successively promoted to the rank of major general in 1790. In 1797, he was stationed in Austria as part of the coalition force assembled against Napoleon. However, following the end of the War of the Second Coalition in 1801, he departed from Austria and was later made a commander of Fredriksten Fortress, a fort in Norway in the year 1804.
In 1807, around three years after being made commander of the fort, he once again went to serve in the Napoleonic Wars following Great Britain's attack on Denmark-Norway. A year later, the Kingdom of Sweden joined forces with Great Britain against Denmark-Norway. Nevertheless, Charles, as one of the kingdom's principal military commanders, led his armies to victory against the invading Swedes, by inflicting two notable defeats against his adversaries at the Battle of Prestebakke and the Battle of Toverud. In return, he was then concurrently made a field marshal, and a year later, the Governor-general of Norway.
Crown Prince of Sweden
On June 6th 1809, following the overthrow of King Gustaf IV Adolf from the Swedish throne, the new monarch, King Charles XIII, conceded to the new liberal Constitution, thereby bringing peace to the Swedish realm.
Nevertheless, the new Swedish monarch, by the time of his ascension, had been rendered childless, which consequently led to a search for an heir abroad. Initially, a likely candidate was the then King Frederick VI of Denmark, but when the Danish monarch himself refused the offer, Charles now became the potential heir to the Swedish throne as the second likely candidate. At the same time, Charles's future ascendancy to the throne received a mostly overwhelming amount of support from the Swedish society, with the exception of the Swedish nobility, which had preferred the deposed King Gustaf IV Adolf and his then underage son. Regardless, as Charles himself was somewhat popular in the Norwegian realm, and possessed a strong desire for rapprochement between the two Scandinavian kingdoms, the decision to adopt him as heir to the Swedish throne was finally made absolute on July 15th 1809.
On January 7th 1810, Charles finally departed from Denmark-Norway for Sweden, whilst also changing his name in the process, from his given names of Christian August to Charles August. Almost immediately, he was bestowed upon with various honours following his arrival, and he also became the first person to enjoy the status of an honorary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Conquest of Norway
During the midst of the War of the Sixth Coalition, Charles had wholly agreed with the Russian Tsar Alexander I for a military invasion of Denmark-Norway, as the latter had been on the side of Napoleon during the conflict. However, having been made aware of his immense popularity in Norway itself, Charles instead arranged for a supposedly "non-violent" and "bloodless" takeover of the Norwegian realm from Denmark instead. As a result, just a few days prior to the planned beginning of the "invasion", Charles personally sent a letter to the new Governor-general of Norway, Prince Frederik of Hesse, in which he demanded the latter to "surrender in peace for the benefit of all". Then, without awaiting any further response from the governor-general himself, Charles subsequently marched on Oslo at the head of only a hundred fully-armed men, a plan that was initially ridiculed by the crown prince's peers for its perceived unrealism, while at the same time, Charles's son, the future King Charles II, instead marched southwards as a preparatory measure against a potential Danish invasion. Ultimately, on April 6th 1814, as Charles and his band of one hundred men were promptly allowed to enter the Norwegian capital of Oslo by the governor-general, they were markedly received with large scales of celebrations and applause, thus making the crown prince's dream of a bloodless "conquest" of Norway a reality. Around a month later, after having resisted calls for an immediate attack on Copenhagen, as to force a quick Danish surrender, his "conquest" of Norway on behalf of Sweden was unilaterally recognised by the victorious coalitional powers. Soon afterward, King Charles XIII himself was proclaimed King of Norway, as Charles II of Norway.
Post-Napoleonic Wars
In the days immediately following the Swedish acquisition of Norway, Charles, with the tacit approval of the Swedish monarch, began to make intricate drafts for a supposedly hypothetical union of all three kingdoms of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, a goal he hoped to achieve by having himself elected as the new King of Denmark to succeed the childless King Frederick VI of Denmark.
On February 5th 1818, following the death of Charles XIII and II, Charles promptly ascended to both the thrones of Sweden and Norway as Charles XIV and III, thereby becoming the first Swedish and Norwegian monarch of the Augustenborg dynasty.
King of Sweden-Norway
As King of Sweden-Norway, Charles, following the footsteps of his predecessor, Charles XIII, largely accepted the liberal status quo. Nevertheless, in private at least, he further continued his previous work on his drafts, as the new king still possessed high aspirations of him being elected the new King of Denmark, thereby completing the unification. In regards to Norway itself, he largely emphasised the need for equal representation on the side of the Norwegians, as to not immediately jeapordise the infant hard-fought union.
In foreign policies, while Charles had somewhat opted for his new Scandinavian kingdom to remain fairly excluded out of European affairs, thereby pursuing a policy roughly similar to that of neutrality, he nevertheless aimed mostly to cultivate strong relationships with the Brkingdom's more superior neighbours on the far west and east, namely the British and Russian empires. To a certain extent, prior to his own ascension as King of Sweden-Norway, Charles had been halfway successful in completing his said ambition, as his eldest son, the later Charles II, had been successfully married off to Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia, the younger sister of Tsar Alexander I of Russia. Later on, as to appease and seek a guarantee of protection from the United Kingdom aswell, he further married off his eldest daughter, Princess Charlotte to the second eldest son of Queen Victoria, Prince Alfred whom, along with Charlotte, later became Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha upon the death of Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in August 1893.
In the year 1828, sensing an opportunity that would finally allow him to establish the United Kingdoms's image on the world stage, Charles, with the unilateral approval of all three constituent parliaments, authorised the creation of an expeditionary force along with those of Britain, Russia, and France, with the intent of directly assisting the Greek struggle against their weakening Ottoman overlords, whom had prior managed to keep the Greek revolutionaries at bay following an intervention by the Ottoman general, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt. In the end, although Scandinavia itself received little concessions following the Greek victory, their newfound military prowess, then exhibited during the conflict by [[Crown Prince Charles was quick to gain recognition among its fellow European neighbours. Furthermore, in the following decade, he also authorised a military intervention in Belgium, then the birthplace of the Belgian Revolution, against the Dutch forces.
Following the death of the childless King Frederick VI, the Danish throne found itself temporarily vacant as Charles, then finally seen as a likely contender, found himself up against the heir presumptive to the Danish throne, Prince Christian of Denmark, whom was a first half-cousin of the late Danish king. Ultimately, based on the prospects of finalising an actual unification of the Scandinavian sub-continent, Charles, having already been the monarch of two out of the three kingdoms necessary to complete the process, was decisively elected as the new King of Denmark, in which he also became the country's first monarch of the Augustenborg dynasty which, in itself, is an offshoot of the previous Oldenburg dynasty. Then, just days after he was elected as the new King of Denmark, Charles markedly declared the formal creation of a United Kingdoms of Scandinavia, with himself as its ceremonial figurehead of all three kingdoms forming the union. At the same time, after having initially wished to declare himself King of the Scandinavians, he ultimately opted for the more "formal" title of King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, after the former option received a significant degree of opposition from Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. Furthermore, on December 10th 1839, a new constitution, named the Constitution of 1839 was also proclaimed by Charles himself, thereby marking a formal adoption of constitutionalism among all three constituent kingdoms.
For the remaining years of his reign and life, the older Charles reportedly worked extensively and meticulously in continuously reforming and updating his new kingdom's administration and its armed forces, with one particular courtier later describing the king as a "man more fraught-looking than Napoleon in his exile".
Marriage
Princess Louise Augusta of Denmark
On July 2nd 1794, following a series of intricate, and politically motivated marital arrangements, a twenty-eight year old Charles was first married off to the twenty-five year old Princess Louise Augusta of Denmark, a granddaughter of King George III of Great Britain, and the supposedly illegitimate daughter of King Christian VII of Denmark, the father of the late King Frederick VI. Reportedly, in the beginning, the couple was said to had mostly exhibited feelings of indifference towards one another, although there were some sayings of an actual romantic passion existing between the two. Nevertheless, around two years into their marriage, Louise Augusta became pregnant with a child. Eventually, the said child was successfully born, whom would later become the future King Charles II of the United Kingdoms of Scandinavia. However, the joy at the birth of a son was short-lived as only a year after the birth of their only son, Charles himself was summoned to the frontiers, while Louise Augusta had to contend with raising her child mostly by herself at the family residence of Augustenborg Palace.
The situation went on for the next four years, before Charles's departure from Austria sometime in the year 1801, which opened the possibilities of a much stronger father and son relationship, led to a change in the status quo as Charles himself quickly adapted to family life, as he spent much of his time following his return with his wife and son. However, around a year into his return to Denmark, the couple was faced with yet another pregnancy, but unfortunately enough, his wife's second pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, which brought much shock to the family of three. On July 25th 1809, as Charles was made the new Governor-general of Norway, the family of three subsequently moved up north to the Norwegian capital of Oslo, where they temporarily resided for a while prior to their eventual, and final move to Sweden afterward.
Move to Sweden
Following the decision to adopt Charles as the heir to the childless King Charles XIII of Sweden, the family of three moved once more to Stockholm where, by the virtue of the Swedish monarch himself, they were allowed to take up residence in Drottningholm Palace as the new crown prince and crown princess of Sweden. During this time, by Charles's own insistence, he had his then only child be extensively trained in the arts of warfare, in addition to the usual subjects learned by a royal prince.
Following the death of the elderly and childless King Charles XIII on February 5th 1818, Charles and Louise Augusta subsequently became the new King and Queen of Sweden-Norway, with Charles in particular being the first member of the Augustenborg dynasty to ascend to both the Swedish and Norwegian thrones.
Divorce
Despite the apparent happiness in their marriage, soon after becoming the new monarch of the two respective kingdoms, Charles, having learned and feared immensely of the fate of his childless predecessor, reportedly began to consider on divorcing his now middle-aged wife, which would in turn allow him to seek a much younger wife instead, whom would then be able to produce additional children whom were perceived by Charles himself as "convenient replacements" in the case of a premature death of his only son, whom was childless himself at the time. However, in all respects, the decision itself was not without its difficulties, as Louise Augusta in particular found herself unfavourably used as a tool to satisfy her husband's dynastical ambitions, rather than to satisfy their respective marital commitments as husband and wife. Nevertheless, on August 7th 1818, the royal couple was formally divorced, although by the insistence of Charles himself, his now divorced wife chose to remain in Sweden herself, a decision supposedly done in good faith by Louise Augusta. The latter was also allowed to retain her titles, having had the distinction of being the mother of a future king.
Almost immediately following the divorce, Charles promptly tasked his principal foreign minister, Lars von Engeström, in the search for a new, eligible wife. At the same time, while the young Princess Charlotte of Prussia was already of strong consideration by the king, several other eligible candidates were also proposed, namely Princess Caroline of Denmark, presumably as a gesture of reconciliation with Denmark, Princess Augusta of Prussia, the aunt of his later wife, Princess Charlotte, and Princess Amalie of Baden, sister of the later Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden. Eventually, based on a rather geopolitical basis, only the two Prussian candidates, Princess Charlotte and Princess Augusta of Prussia were left with serious consideration. In the end, the much younger Princess Charlotte decisively prevailed over her aunt, Princess Augusta of Prussia, as the choice of of wife for the king, as the former had only reached twenty years of age at the time of her marriage, while the latter had already been nearing the age of forty at the time.
Princess Charlotte of Prussia
In the weeks preceding his divorce, Charles himself had already determined on his next wife-to-be, namely the then twenty year old Princess Charlotte of Prussia, the eldest daughter of King Frederick William III of Prussia. As a result, just a week prior to his divorce, Charles, with the agreement of the Prussian king himself, had the young princess invited over to Copenhagen, where she was then taken along by the king himself on a coordinated tour around the city.
Reportedly, following a then overwhelmingly positive reception by the Prussian princess herself, she was then further taken on a tour to the respective capital cities of Stockholm in Sweden and Oslo in Norway, both of which also earned much praise and admiration from Charlotte herself. Nevertheless, the general amount of publicity associated with the respective trips also led to a considerable amount of controversy aswell, as most members of the nobility had no prior knowledge of the king's marital schemes, in addition to the scandalous nature itself of a married king being publicly seen in a close manner with an eligible princess.
Following his divorce from Queen Louise on August 7th of that month, Charlotte herself was once more summoned to Copenhagen where this time, amidst some internal dissent among several members of the nobility, whom were against his much controversial divorce, she was ultimately allowed to take up residence in Amalienborg along with the King himself. Eventually, just four days later, on August 11th, the couple was eventually married in a lavish and elaborate ceremony, which saw the notable attendance of his brother-in-law, Prince William of Prussia, and later German Emperor, William I, and his own son's brother-in-law, Grand Duke Nicholas Pavlovich of Russia, later Tsar Nicholas I.
Almost immediately into their marriage, the new Queen Charlotte was quick to achieve a pregnancy herself, which then successively led to the birth of a second son, Prince Gustav. Soon afterward, in what was later seen as a marked contrast to the latter stages of his own previous marriage, Charles chose to personally devote most of his time to his own wife, whom was reported of having generally enjoyed her husband's company. After the birth of Prince Gustav, Charlotte proceeded to afterward give birth to three more children with her much older husband, with all three of them having been born female, and were respectively named Charlotte, Christina, and Madeleine.
Death
On February 11th 1845, while supposedly writing up a document in his bedroom, Charles promptly collapsed from his seat to the floor, an incident that quickly caught the attention of his wife, Queen Charlotte, whom promptly called for royal doctors to the paralysed monarch's side. Ultimately, just several minutes later, he was declared dead by royal doctors.
Immediately following his death, a brief but tense dispute arose as to where the deceased monarch should be buried, as each sides involved fought vigorously for the right of the deceased celebrated monarch to be buried in their respective home country. Nevertheless, it was eventually decided that he would instead be buried in the traditional royal burial site of Riddarholmen Church in Stockholm, Sweden, while his immediate successor, the new Charles II would then be buried in Norway, with his grandson being respectively buried in Denmark next, and so on.
Titles & Honours
- 9 July 1786 - 15 July 1809 His Royal Highness Prince Christian August of Augustenborg
- 15 July 1809 - 30 May 1814 His Royal Highness The Crown Prince of Sweden
- 30 May 1814 - 5 February 1818 His Royal Highness The Crown Prince of Sweden-Norway
- 5 February 1818 - 3 December 1839 His Majesty The King of Sweden-Norway
- 3 December 1839 - 11 February 1845 His Majesty The King