he 13th of March 1809, when those
who had dethroned Gustavus IV. appointed him regent, and finally elected
him king. But by this time he was prematurely decrepit, and Bernadotte
(see CHARLES XIV.) took over the government as soon as he landed in
Sweden (1810). By the union of 1814 Charles became the first king of
Sweden and Norway. He married his cousin Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of
Holstein-Gottorp (1759-1818), but their only child, Carl Adolf, duke of
Vermland, died in infancy (1798). Charles XIII., who for eight years had
been king only in title, died on the 5th of February 1818.

See _Sveriges Historia_ vol. v. (Stockholm, 1884); _Drottning Hedwig
Charlottes Dagbokshandteckningar_ (Stockholm, 1898); Robert Nisbet
Bain, _Gustavus III. and his Contemporaries_ (London, 1895)_; ib.
Scandinavia_ (Cambridge, 1905). (R. N. B.)

CHARLES XIV. (1763-1844), king of Sweden and Norway, born at Pau on the
26th of January 1763, was the son of Henri Bernadotte (1711-1780),
procurator at Pau, and Jeanne St Jean (1725-1809). The family name was
originally Deu Pouey, but was changed into Bernadotte in the beginning
of the 17th century. Bernadotte's christian names were Jean Baptiste; he
added the name Jules subsequently. He entered the French army on the 3rd
of September 1780, and first saw service in Corsica. On the outbreak of
the Revolution his eminent military qualities brought him speedy
promotion. In 1794 we find him as brigadier attached to the army of the
Sambre et Meuse, and after Jourdan's victory at Fleurus he was appointed
a general of division. At the battle of Theiningen, 1796, he
contributed, more than any one else, to the successful retreat of the
French army over the Rhine after its defeat by the archduke Charles. In
1797 he brought reinforcements from the Rhine to Bonaparte's army in
Italy, distinguishing himself greatly at the passage of the Tagliamento,
and in 1798 was sent as ambassador to Vienna, but was compelled to quit
his post owing to the disturbances caused by his hoisting the tricolor
over the embassy. On the 16th of August 1798 he married Desiree Clary
(1777-1860), the daughter of a Marseilles banker, and sister of Joseph
Bonaparte's wife. From the 2nd of July to the 14th of September he was
war minister, in which capacity he displayed great ability. About this
time he held aloof from Bonaparte, but though he declined to help
Napoleon in the preparations for the _coup d'etat_ of November