Queen Désirée (actually in Swedish "Desideria") was born Bernardine Eugénie Désirée Clary in 1777 in Marseille, Southern France. Her father was in the trade with the Osman Empire (Constantinopel) and earned some wealth with his business. The Clarys were not of noble descendance, actually the provenance of the family is not well known.
When she was 18, Eugénie (she later started to be called Désirée) met the from Corsica emigrated family "Buonaparte" (later Bonaparte). She introduced Joseph Bonaparte to her elder sister Julie who felt in love with Joseph and later married him. Eugénie/Désirée herself was from 1795 to 1796 engaged to the young and unknown General Napoleone Buonaparte who was later known as Napoléon Bonaparte and became Emperor of The French!
The two never married because the Clarys opposed against a second Bonaparte in the family and Napoléon himself met the rich and influent widow Joséphine de Beauharnais de Tascher de la Pagerie and married her in 1796.
Désirée herself married in 1798 Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, a General in the French army. Jean Baptiste later became Marshal under Napoléon and was made Count of Ponte Corvo. In 1810, he was adopted by the childless Swedish King and Queen under the name Carl Johan. This was also the name he was later known as King of Sweden and Norway.
Désirée herself became Swedish and Norwegian Queen under the name "Désideria". Whilst her husband and her son Oscar lived in Sweden from 1810 on, Désirée stayed in France up to 1823, mainly under the pseudonym of Countess of Gotland. The reasons are not absolutely clear. There might be her health, she didn't coped with the nordic climate in Sweden or it might be, that she didn't felt comfortable in the stiff protocol of the Swedish court.
Désirée finally went to Sweden with her son's fiancée, Josephine of Leuchtenberg (who was Joséphine de Beauharnais' granddaughter!). She remained in Sweden up to her death in 1860.
That woman had a very interesting life and she was involved with two of the most influent men of their time!
on July 1, 2012, 1:05 am, in reply to "