Oscar II of Sweden

Oscar II (Oscar Fredrik; January 21, 1829 Stockholm - December 8, 1907, Stockholm) was King of Sweden between 1872 and 1907 and of Norway between 1872 and 1905. Third son of Óscar I and Josefina de Leuchtenberg, he succeeded his brother Carlos XV on the throne. He accepted Norwegian independence in 1905 at the demands of Parliament.

King of Sweden and Norway

At his birth in Stockholm he was made Duke of Östergötland. At the age of eleven he entered the navy, where he was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1845. Later he began his higher studies at the University of Uppsala, emphasizing mathematics. On June 6, 1857, he married Princess Sophia of Nassau.

On September 18, 1872, at the age of 43, he succeeded his older brother, King Charles XV, on the throne of the union, since he had died without leaving any male descendants. He was crowned in Stockholm Cathedral on May 12, 1873 and in Nidaros Cathedral on July 18 of the same year. Although both the king and the court resided in Sweden, Oscar made an effort to become fluent in Norwegian.

He soon became aware of the difficulties within the union that were already showing clear signs of fracture. After several months of tension between Sweden and Norway, in which the threat of war was even present, the Norwegian parliament managed to negotiate with the central government the formal separation of Norway from the union with Sweden. As of October 26, 1905, Norway would establish itself as a constitutional monarchy. That same day, Óscar renounced his dynastic rights to Norway. The Swedish monarch declined the possibility that any member of his family was a candidate for the Norwegian throne. He was succeeded in Norway by Haakon VII, the grandson of Charles XV of Sweden. The bad relations that took place between the two Scandinavian countries improved significantly in the last years of Oscar's life.

Oscar II portrayed by Anders Zorn in 1898.

Her reign in Sweden was peaceful, staying away from European conflicts. Due to this position of neutrality, Óscar II acted as a mediator in some international disputes, such as the one between Venezuela and the United Kingdom in 1896. In 1889 and 1899 he mediated in the disputes between the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States over Samoa. In 1900 he declared his support for the United Kingdom in the Second Boer War, when most of Europe was hostile to British intervention.

Intellectual life

Óscar II was a distinguished writer and music aficionado, and was interested in improving education in the two kingdoms he ruled. In 1858, a collection of his lyrical and narrative poems, Memoirs of the Swedish Army , was published under anonymous authorship, a work that won second prize at the Swedish Academy. His Contributions to the military history of Sweden in the years 1711, 1712 and 1713 appeared in the Annals of the Academy and were printed separately in 1865. His speeches, as well as his work The Cronberg Castle and his translations of Johann Gottfried Herder's Cid and Goethe's Torcuato Tasso were collected in three volumes in 1875 and 1876. His Memoirs by Carlos XII were translated into English in 1879. He cultivated music essays and was a great collector of musical works.

In 1881 he founded the world's first open-air museum, at his summer residence near Christiania (now the Norwegian Folk Museum). His interest in science led him to offer a prize of 2,500 crowns to anyone who could answer the question of whether the solar system was stable in the long term.

The king died on December 8, 1907 in Stockholm. His remains, like those of most Swedish kings, rest in the church of Riddarholmen.

Family

Married to Princess Sofia of Nassau, they had four sons:

1. Gustavo (1858-1950). Duke of Värmland. King of Sweden.
2. Oscar (1859-1953). Duke of Gotland until March 15, 1888. Count Bernadotte of Wisborg from that date.
3. Carlos (1861-1951). Duke of Västergötland.
4. Eugenio Napoleón (1865-1947). Duke of Närke.

Ancestors

Prior to: Carlos XV	King of Sweden 1872-1907	Successed by: Gustavo V
	King of Norway 1872-1905	Successed by: Haakon VII