Oscar I (born Joseph François Oscar Bernadotte; 4 July 1799 – 8 July 1859) was King of Sweden and Norway from 8 March 1844 until his death. He was the second monarch of the House of Bernadotte.
The only child of King Charles XIV John, Oscar inherited the thrones upon the death of his father. Throughout his reign he would pursue a liberal course in politics in contrast to Charles XIV John, instituting reforms and improving ties between Sweden and Norway. In an address to him in 1857, the Riksdag declared that he had promoted the material prosperity of the kingdom more than any of his predecessors.
Oscar was born at 291 Rue Cisalpine in Paris (today: 32 Rue Monceau) to Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, then-French Minister of War and later Marshal of the Empire and Sovereign Prince of Pontecorvo, and Désirée Clary, Napoleon Bonaparte's former fiancée. He was named Joseph after his godfather Joseph Bonaparte, who was married to his mother's elder sister Julie, but was also given the names François Oscar. The latter name was chosen by Napoleon after one of the heroes in the Ossian cycle of poems, and was the name that came to be used in the family, mainly by the mother and the aunt. Désirée is said to have chosen Napoleon to be Oscar's godfather. He spent his first years in France, living with his mother and aunt, partly in Paris, partly at Joseph Bonaparte's country residence, the Château de Mortefontaine north of Paris. In 1807, he received his first tutor, Le Moine.
As the Swedish king Charles XIII was without legitimate heirs, and Sweden therefore was without an heir to the throne, Oscar's father was proposed as a possible candidate to the Swedish throne in 1810. As one of the arguments for his election, it was argued that he already had a son and the future succession to the throne was secured. A portrait of the young Oscar was handed out at the Diet of the Four Estates assembled in Örebro to elect an heir to the throne, serving as a lever for the election of Bernadotte. On 21 August 1810, the Riksdag elected Oscar's father as heir-presumptive to the Swedish throne. Two months later, on 5 November, he was formally adopted by the king under the name of "Charles John"; Oscar was then created a Prince of Sweden with the style of Royal Highness, and further accorded the title of Duke of Södermanland. Oscar and his mother moved from Paris to Stockholm in June 1811; while Oscar soon acclimated to life at the royal court, quickly acquiring the Swedish language, Désirée had difficulty adjusting and despised the cold weather. Consequently, she left Sweden in the summer of 1811, and would not return until 1823.
Oscar, who was accompanied to Sweden by Le Moine, immediately got a teacher of Swedish and was soon able to serve as his father's interpreter. On 17 January 1816, Oscar was elected an honorary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and in 1818 was appointed chancellor of Uppsala University, where he spent one semester.
Oscar became Crown Prince in 1818 upon the death of his adoptive grandfather, and the accession of Charles John to the Swedish and Norwegian thrones.
Seeking to legitimise the new Bernadotte dynasty, Charles XIV John had selected four princesses as candidates for marriage, in order of his priority:
Vilhelmina of Denmark (born 18 January 1808), daughter of Frederick VI of Denmark and Marie Sophie of Hesse-Kassel (ultimately she married first Frederick VII of Denmark and second Karl, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg)
Josephine of Leuchtenberg (born 14 March 1807), daughter of Eugene, 1st Duke of Leuchtenberg and Augusta of Bavaria, and granddaughter of the Empress Josephine.
Marie of Hesse-Kassel (born 6 September 1804), daughter of William II, Elector of Hesse and Augusta of Prussia (ultimately she married Bernard II of Saxe-Meiningen)
Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (born 3 February 1808), daughter of Charles Frederick I of Saxe-Weimar and Maria Pavlovna of Russia (ultimately she married Prince Charles of Prussia)
Oscar would eventually marry Josephine, first by proxy at the Leuchtenberg Palace in Munich on 22 May 1823 and in person at a wedding ceremony conducted in Stockholm on 19 June 1823.
King Charles XV & IV (1826–1872)
Prince Gustaf, Duke of Uppland (1827–1852)
Prince August, Duke of Dalarna (1831–1873)
Oscar also had two extramarital sons (unofficially called the Princes of Lapland) by actress Emilie Högquist:
Hjalmar Högquist, born 18 June 1839 in Hamburg, died 1874 in London.
Max Högquist, born 12 August 1840 in Stockholm, died 1872 in China.