 | ||
Prince Bernadotte was a title in the nobility of Belgium, conferred upon Carl Bernadotte by Leopold III of Belgium on 6 July 1937. Carl Bernadotte was born Prince of Sweden and Duke of Östergötland, but gave up those titles when he married morganatically in 1937. King Leopold was married to Carl's sister Astrid of Sweden and conferred the noble title on his brother-in-law on the day of Carl's marriage. The title was a noble title (i.e. prince as a high rank of nobility), not a royal title.
In Sweden, the princely Bernadotte family was considered a part of the unintroduced nobility and were members of Ointroducerad Adels Förening ("The Association of the Unintroduced Nobility"). That title is now extinct, as it was personal to Carl Bernadotte and his wives. His heirs were designated to be Counts or Countesses Bernadotte. Carl had only one child, Countess Madeleine Bernadotte.
Oscar Bernadotte renounced his titles as Prince of Sweden and Duke of Gotland after he married morganatically in 1888 but was allowed by his father King Oscar II to keep the title Prince and then be styled Prince Bernadotte. He was created Count of Wisborg by his maternal uncle Grand Duke Adolphe of Luxembourg in 1892.
Oscar's grandnephews Sigvard, Carl Johan and Lennart (who all lost their titles after marrying morganatically) where also created Counts of Wisborg in Luxembourg in 1951. In the government documents they were also styled Prince Bernadotte, a title that for them has remained out of use and is not known to appear for them in any other mainstream publication. One of their widows survives (2016). Of these three, one announced to Swedish media in 1983 that he henceforth would be calling himself Prince Sigvard Bernadotte, which however was not recognized by his nephew Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.
King Charles XIV John of Sweden was also often called Prince Bernadotte after the promotions he received from Napoleon I and before he was elected Crown Prince of Sweden.