Carl Johan Bernadotte

Bernadotte lost his succession rights to the Swedish throne and renounced his titles in 1946 when he married the journalist Elin Kerstin Margaretha Wijkmark (4 October 1910 – 11 September 1987), daughter of Henning Wijkmark and wife Elin Larsson in New York City on 19 February. As his unconstitutional marriage to Wijkmark - enskild mans dotter (daughter of a common man) - could not be approved by the Swedish government, Bernadotte knew he was giving up his Swedish titles and succession rights.

They adopted two children:

• Monica Kristina Margaretha Bernadotte (born 5 March 1948, adopted in 1951). Married on 16 January 1976 and divorced in 1997 Count Johan Peder Bonde af Björnö (born 5 May 1950). They have three children.
• Christian Carl Henning Bernadotte (born 3 December 1949, adopted in 1950). Married on 13 September 1980 Marianne Jenny (born 31 January 1958), daughter of Jacques Jenny and wife Caroline Yvonne Venter. They have three children.

The Bernadottes lived for some time in New York City, where he worked as the representative of the Anglo-Nordic Trading Company. They made friends with the film star Greta Garbo, who stayed with them in their Swedish home near Båstad.[3]

On 29 September 1988, the widowed Bernadotte married Countess Gunnila Märtha Louise (Wachtmeister af Johannishus) Bussler (12 May 1923 – 12 September 2016) in Copenhagen and also became the stepfather of her three children from her previous marriage.

Bernadotte's grave at the Royal Cemetery north of Stockholm.

• 31 October 1916 – 19 February 1946: His Royal Highness Prince Carl Johan of Sweden, Duke of Dalarna
• 19 February 1946 – 2 July 1951: Carl Johan Bernadotte
• 2 July 1951 – 5 May 2012: Carl Johan Arthur Prince Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg

When marrying morganatically on 19 February 1946 he lost his Swedish royal titles, i.e. Prince of Sweden and Duke of Dalarna. He subsequently assumed the surname Bernadotte, the name of the Swedish Royal Family.

On 2 July 1951, for himself, his wife and his marital descendants, he was admitted by Grand Duchess Charlotte (head of state at the time) into the Luxembourgois nobility with the title Count of Wisborg.[4] and in that conferral was also made Carl Johan Arthur Prince Bernadotte.[5]

On 29 June 2011, he surpassed his elder brother, Sigvard (1907–2002), as the longest-lived of Queen Victoria's male descendants,[7] a record he would hold until being surpassed by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 13 December 2016. He was the last surviving great-grandchild of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, the last surviving child of Gustaf VI Adolf, and the last surviving grandchild of Gustaf V.

• Grandchildren of Victoria and Albert