00:00Our good friends, the Swedes, are famous for many things.
00:04Most notably, their world-spanning voyages, their almost religious passion for low-key
00:10interiors, and of course, their cultural inclusivity.
00:14Perhaps what wouldn't come so readily to mind is the fact that the current Swedish ruling
00:18dynasty was not actually founded by a Swede at all.
00:22So my friends, today we'll look at the Cinderella story of how a low-born French soldier became
00:29King of Sweden and Norway.
00:32Has anyone seen my shoe?
00:34Oh, there's a pumpkin over there.
00:36Anyway, our main character is Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte.
00:40He was born into the family of a humble lawyer in southern France.
00:44Not exactly what you might call kingly material.
00:47At just 14, he was already a lawyer's apprentice.
00:51When he turned 17, after the sudden death of his father, he did a full 180 and joined
00:57the French royal army.
00:58The steady and hard-working chap that he was, Jean-Baptiste advanced quickly, reaching
01:04the rank of sergeant by the age of 22.
01:08He earned the nickname Sergeant Belgium, or Sergeant Fairlegs, for his dashing appearance
01:14and stature.
01:16You can, you!
01:17Despite being recognized by his peers and superiors, however, a soldier of his humble origins could
01:23never hope to compete with his more noble counterparts.
01:27He did reach the highest position open to a non-commissioned soldier like himself under
01:32the old regime.
01:33So, he probably welcomed the French Revolution with open arms, excited about the new opportunities
01:39for career advancement.
01:40He led daring assaults during the French invasion of Germany, and pushed back the Austrians whilst
01:46being outnumbered three to one.
01:49As you might have already guessed, it was only a matter of time before Bernadotte caught the
01:54eye of none other than the personification of ambition itself.
02:01Now, this was before Napoleon's meteoric rise, yet even while he was still a general, he liked
02:08to surround himself with men of character and ability, and he certainly regarded Bernadotte
02:15as such.
02:15In two years, Bernadotte was already part of the Bonaparte family, marrying Napoleon's
02:22ex-fiancé and sister-in-law, her sister being married to Joseph Bonaparte.
02:27It was a rather smart move, which guaranteed Bernadotte a front seat to the making of history.
02:33After Napoleon reorganized the Republic into the first Galactic Empire, I mean the first
02:40French Empire, Bernadotte became one of his top marshals.
02:44He was also given territories to govern, and was made the Prince of Ponticorvo, a title
02:50Napoleon created especially for him.
02:52He continued serving Napoleon faithfully, fighting in numerous battles, one of which was
02:58the fateful Battle of Lübeck.
02:59During that battle, Bernadotte captured a Swedish force of around 1,600 soldiers.
03:07The Swedish prisoners were pleasantly surprised by how well Bernadotte treated them.
03:12He even went as far as to host their commander at his residence.
03:15Cheers, chap!
03:16Cheers!
03:17He arranged for their safe return to Sweden, where they sang endless praises of the noble
03:22Marshal Bernadotte.
03:24Now Sweden, at that time, was in a bit of a rut.
03:27Over the past century, it had suffered nothing but humiliating defeats at the hands of Russia
03:34and Prussia.
03:54There goes another one.
03:56The Swedes were so fed up with their royalty that they went to ask for the humble opinion
04:01of Napoleon, who was already ruling most of Europe anyway.
04:05Napoleon, however, was a bit busy at the time.
04:07Not tonight, Josephine.
04:09So he didn't express much interest in this Swedish problem.
04:13But, as the delegation was preparing to return home in disappointment, one of the young messengers
04:18decided to take matters into his own hands.
04:21He was among those in Sweden who were what you might call Bernadotte fanboys.
04:27Otto had heard of Bernadotte's graciousness and ability from his uncle, who just so happened
04:33to be the commander back at that fateful battle of Lübeck.
04:37What are the odds?
04:39Now, in a move that stupefied the government back home, Otto went up to Bernadotte and effectively
04:45offered him the Swedish crown.
04:47Hello, here is the crown.
04:50Unsurprisingly, upon returning to Stockholm, Otto was greeted with handcuffs and a stern talking
04:56to.
04:57Otto, you're a naughty boy!
04:59But when the parliament actually thought about it, Bernadotte's candidacy didn't seem all
05:04that bad.
05:05His CV checked all the right boxes.
05:07He was a venerated military leader with close relations to Napoleon.
05:11He was immensely popular among the Swedish military and, let's be fair, he was a complete
05:17charmer, darling.
05:18In 1810, the parliament made him crown prince, and while he didn't officially become king
05:24until 1818, he began ruling Sweden almost immediately.
05:29Somewhat ironically, Bernadotte's first order of business was to ally himself with the Russians
05:35against Napoleon in the hopes of reclaiming Norway, which, actually, he achieved in the
05:41span of a single summer.
05:43Heh, what a summer.
05:44Put a little more tannin lotion on the back, Bernadotte.
05:48Oh, so good.
05:50Anyway, let's not talk about that summer anymore.
05:52For the next century, Bernadotte and his heirs, the baby Bernadotte's, would rule the combined
05:58kingdom, and they still rule Sweden to this day.
06:01So, one could say that despite history offering plenty of evidence to the contrary, sometimes
06:07it really does pay off to be nice to people.
06:10If you're also interested in being a kinder person, you'll be happy to hear that we here
06:16at SideQuest offer plenty of opportunities for the Recipiency of Kindness on our Patreon.
06:22By supporting us there, you'll ensure the safe continuation of our dynasty on the throne
06:28of YouTube, and you will have earned my eternal gratitude, my dear friend.
06:33In any case, be on the lookout in the not-too-distant future for the next magnificently opportunistic
06:39episode of SideQuest.
06:52theoretically, the two on-too-distant bestowed-off-products, the two- ABAPS-155-08-202-2022-2022-2021.
06:53The more in-to-date, the three-bibs-2022-2022-2021, the larger-beach-fism-2022-2022-2022-2022-2022
06:54-2021, the third-body-22-2022-2022-2022-21-2022-2022-2022-2121-233.
06:54The third-body-22-2022-2022-2022-2022-2022-213-2022-21-2122-24-2422-2122-2222-21,21-2022
06:54-2022-2022-2122.
06:54You
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