Prince Wilhelm, Duke of Södermanland
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Prince Wilhelm of Sweden and Norway, Carl Wilhelm Ludvig (17 June 1884 – 5 June 1965), Duke of Södermanland, was the second son of King Gustav V of Sweden and his Queen consort Victoria of Baden and authored a large number of books (primarily in Swedish) as Prins Wilhelm.
Personal life
Wilhelm was born at Tullgarn Palace.
On 3 May 1908, in Tsarskoye Selo Wilhelm married Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia. She was a daughter of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia and Princess Alexandra of Greece, and was a cousin of the reigning Russian tsar, Nicholas II.
Wilhelm and Maria had only one son Prince Lennart, Duke of Småland and later Count Bernadotte af Wisborg (1909–2004).
In his autobiography, Lennart tells of how his grandfather, the King, insisted that the servants call Maria by her correct style Your Imperial and Royal Highness, to some dismay of her husband, who was merely a Royal Highness. The marriage was unhappy. Maria later told people that her husband was a homosexual,[citation needed] though that is not known to be true, or at least sexually inadequate. The couple divorced in 1914 because of what Maria described as the horror she then felt toward the Swedish royal family, due to their unlimited support of Doctor Axel Munthe who had accosted her sexually.[1]
Wilhelm had a relationship, which was not publicly known, with Jeanne de Tramcourt from that year until 1952. They lived together for more than 30 years on the estate Stenhammar near Flen. This was at a time when cohabitation was very unusual and not officially allowed to occur among royalty. Jeanne de Tramcourt was therefore called his "hostess" at Stenhammar. On January 2, 1952, she died in a car accident in a snowstorm near Stjärnhov in Södermanland, when they were on their way to Stenhammar after visiting Wilhelm's son Lennart. Wilhelm was driving when the accident took place. After this tragedy, he is said never to have recovered.
As Prins Wilhelm he was a noted photographer and the author of several books.[2][3]
Following the murder of Kaj Munk on 4 January 1944 the Danish resistance newspaper De frie Danske brought condemning reactions from influential Scandinavians, including Wilhelm.[4]
He died in Stockholm, aged 80.
Arms
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Royal role
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Honours and awards
Knight, Order of the Seraphim- Grand Cross, Order of the Sword
- Knight, Order of Charles XIII
In 1904 Prince Wilhelm was appointed a Knight of the Norwegian Lion by King Oscar II. The order was never abolished, but discontinued after Norway became independent in 1905.
Foreign
Grand Cross, Order of the Netherlands Lion - July 1901 - during a visit to the Netherlands[5]
Knight Grand Cross, Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) - June 1905 - on the occasion of his visit to the UK for the wedding of his brother Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden to Princess Margaret of Connaught
Grand Cross with Collar, Order of St Olav
Knight, Order of the Elephant
Ancestry
References
- ^ Lennart Bernadotte in Käre prins, godnatt! ISBN 91-0-041935-4 pp. 155-158
- ^ Amerika från estraden 1928
- ^ Känner du landet 1950
- ^ "KAJ MUNK IN MEMORIAM". De frie Danske (in Danish). January 1944. p. 6. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
Nu er han borte. Myrdet af fire gangstere, en Forbrydelse uden lige. Hvor meningsløst: Ordet dør ikke, fordi man dræber Ordets Forkynder, Aanden knuses ikke af en Revolverkugle. Terror kan aldrig udslette Digterværk, saalidt som den formaar at undertrykke Ideer. Tankens Frihed overvinder selv den væreste Forbrydelse. Kaj Munk blev en Martyr for sit Frihedskrav, men hans skabende Kulturindsats skal leve med stigende Intensitet efter dette. Nordisk Litteratur har Landesorg
- ^ "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36500. London. 6 July 1901. p. 12. template uses deprecated parameter(s) (help)
External links
From Paul Theroff's An Online Gotha:
- 1884 births
- 1965 deaths
- House of Bernadotte
- Swedish princes
- Knights of the Order of the Norwegian Lion
- Recipients of the Order of the Black Eagle
- Recipients of the King Haakon VII Freedom Cross
- Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
- Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon
- Dukes of Södermanland