Charles August, Crown Prince of Sweden

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles August was Crown Prince of Sweden briefly in 1810. Earlier, he had been the Danish viceroy of Norway. His name until 1810 was Prince Christian August of Augustenborg.

On June 6, 1809 the duke regent of Sweden was proclaimed king, after Gustav IV Adolf was deposed. The new king Charles XIII accepted the new liberal constitution, which was ratified by the Riksdag of the Estates the same day. The new king was, at best, a useful stopgap, in no way likely to interfere with the liberal revolution which had placed him on the throne. Peace was what the exhausted nation now required.

Charles XIII was childless so in order to secure the succession to the throne, he adopted Prince Christian August of Augustenborg as his heir. Christian August had been viceroy of Norway and commander-in-chief of the Norwegian army during its successful resistance against the Swedish invasion in 1808-1809. His great popularity in Norway was considered an advantage to the Swedish plans for the acquisition of that country. In addition, he had demonstrated his interest in a rapprochement between the two countries by refraining from invading Sweden during the conflict with Russia. As crown prince of Sweden, he changed his name to Carl August.

He died on May 28, 1810. His autopsy confirmed that he had died of a stroke, but rumours had it that he had been poisoned by the Gustavians, more precisely by Marshal count Axel von Fersen, who was hideously murdered on June 20, 1810, by a mob as he was openly accused of having killed Charles August.

Next, a French marshal, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo, was adopted by Charles XIII and received the homage of the estates on November 5, 1810.