Bernadotte
Swedish royal dynasty

The House was founded in 1818 by Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte who became King Karl XIV Johan of Sweden. On his death he was succeeded by his son, Oskar I, and the reigning monarchs of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Belgium are his direct descendants. In 1794 Bernadotte's future wife D�sir�e met Napoleon I, who later described her as his 'first love', and her elder sister, Julie, married Joseph Bonaparte. D�sir�e's eventual marriage to Bernadotte (1798) eased his strained relations with Bonaparte. Count Folke (1895-1948), great-great-grandson of Jean Bernadotte and nephew of King Gustav V, acted as mediator in both World Wars. He was appointed by the United Nations to mediate in Palestine and produced a partition plan, but was then assassinated by Jewish terrorists.