by Emily McMahon and Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2013
Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland; Credit – Wikipedia
Born on June 17, 1884, at Tullgarn Palace, a royal summer palace in the province of Södermanland, south of Stockholm, Sweden, Prince Wilhelm of Sweden (Carl Wilhelm Ludvig) was the second of three sons of King Gustaf V of Sweden and Victoria of Baden. Wilhelm saw little of his parents during his childhood, as his mother frequently traveled abroad. In his young adulthood, he became known as the “Sailor Prince,” due to his service in the navy.
Wilhelm had an older brother and a younger brother:
- King Gustaf VI Adolf (1882-1973) – married (1) Princess Margaret of Connaught, had five children; (2) Lady Louise Mountbatten, had one stillborn daughter
- Prince Erik, Duke of Västmanland (1889-1918), unmarried
Wilhelm represented his father at the Jamestown Exposition in the United States in 1907 and was very well received by Swedish-Americans. At around the same time, Wilhelm became engaged to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, a granddaughter of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia, and the only daughter and the eldest of the two children of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia and Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark (Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna). When Maria Pavlovna was only seventeen months old, her mother died shortly after giving premature birth to her second child, Maria Pavlovna’s brother. Maria Pavlovna and her brother were raised by their childless uncle Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, and his wife Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (born Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine).
In 1907, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna received a request from the Swedish royal court for a photograph of Maria Pavlovna. Wilhelm’s mother was looking for a bride for him. Marrying Maria Pavlovna to Wilhelm worked well with Elizabeth Feodorovna’s plans to retire from the Russian court and start a Russian Orthodox religious order. It was decided that Prince Wilhelm would travel to Moscow to meet Maria Pavlovna. The day after they met, 23-year-old Wilhelm told 16-year-old Maria he wanted to marry her. Pressured by Elizabeth Feodorovna, Maria Pavlovna became engaged to marry a man that she had just met with the stipulation that the wedding was to be postponed until Maria was 18-years-old. The couple married at the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo near St. Petersburg, Russia on May 3, 1908.
Maria Pavlovna and Prince Wilhelm of Sweden on their wedding day
The couple had one son:
- Prince Lennart, Duke of Småland, later Count Lennart Bernadotte of Wisborg (1909–2004), married (1) morganatically Karin Nissvandt, lost his Swedish royal titles, had four children, divorced (2) Sonja Anita Maria Haunz, had five children
Wilhelm of Sweden with his wife, Maria Pavlovna of Russia and their son, Lennart. Photo credit: Wikipedia
Wilhelm and Maria Pavlovna settled in the Djurgarden, a fashionable section of Stockholm, where the couple’s home (Oakhill) was built. However, the couple could spend little time together due to Wilhelm’s military responsibilities. Maria was homesick in a strange country where the royal court was even more formal than the Russian court. In 1913, Maria left her husband and son and returned to Russia, causing a great scandal in Sweden. On March 13, 1914, the marriage was officially dissolved, and then confirmed by an edict issued by Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia on July 15, 1914. Wilhelm and Maria’s son Lennart remained in his father’s custody, was raised primarily by his paternal grandmother Queen Victoria of Sweden, and rarely saw his mother during his childhood.
Around the time of his divorce, Wilhelm met a French woman, Jeanne de Tramcourt. Jeanne was divorced from a Swedish sculptor, who used her as a model in several of his works. Wilhelm lived with Jeanne at his new home Stenhammar Palace in Flen, Sweden. Although it was known within the family circle that Jeanne and Wilhelm were a couple, Wilhelm’s royal status prohibited him from marrying commoner Jeanne. For her part, Jeanne told Wilhelm when he mentioned marriage, that she did not want to be the “Swedish Mrs. Simpson” and was fine with cohabiting quietly. Jeanne was known instead as the “hostess” of Stenhammar.
Jeanne de Tramcourt, Wilhelm’s longtime partner. Photo credit: polarbearstale.blogspot.com
Jeanne was killed in a car accident near Stjärnhov in 1952 when the couple was on their way to visit Wilhelm’s son Lennart. The snowy weather and icy road conditions were determined to have caused the accident. However, Wilhelm, the driver, was heartbroken and blamed himself until the end of his life.
Like his grandfather King Oscar II of Sweden, Wilhelm was a poet, and wrote more than forty books between 1912 and his death. His 1955 book of poetry entitled Verklighetens Skuggbilder (The Shadow Images) reflects Wilhelm’s pain and desperation after Jeanne’s death. Wilhelm also produced several short films and authored numerous travel books, visiting Central America, Central Africa, and Thailand to conduct research for his works.
Wilhelm died of a heart attack at Stenhammar Palace in Flen, Sweden on June 5, 1965, twelve days before his 81st birthday. Unusual for a Swedish prince, he was not buried at the traditional Swedish royal burial sites but in the parish cemetery in Flen, Sweden.
Grave of Prince Wilhelm and first daughter-in-law Karin Nissvandt; Credit – Wikipedia
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