Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-07
PRELATES AT THE PALACE
Remarkable King With Checkered
History.
HIS BRILLIANT ANCESTRY
Descended From the Woman Who
Was Tilted by Napoleon
Bonaparte.

The kings condition is now hopeless. and
the end is momentarily expected.
After the doctors had eased his pain
the king said Thanks" and Immediately
relapsed into Inconsistencies. This is the
only word he had SPOKEN in hours.
AS the afternoon progressed, all the
of the royal family gathered at
the bedside of the king. Premier Lind
man also was present. The Bishop of
Stockholm was summoned, and he admin
istered the final sacrament. His majesty
still has occasional moments of consciousE
ness, during which he shows signs of
recognition of those about his bedside, but
he quickly relapses into insensibiity.
STOCKHOLM. Recember I, 4:37 p.m.-
The bulletin issued at $3.50 o'clock this
afternoon says King Oscars condition re-
mains unchanged and y very serious.
At $50 pm. King Oscar was reported to
be gradually sinking. He has been pn-
conscious almost all day long. His rallies
are becoming briefer and briefer and the
action of his heart is very feeble.
The Associated Press was informed to-
day by a chamberlain of the king that
the royal patient had lost ground ever
since the issue of this mornings bulletin.
At this hour-3:40 pm.-he is very low.
The chief ecclesiastics of the Swedish
Church in stockholm have been sum-
moned to the bedside of the king.
Split in the Kingdom.
Oscar II, King OF Sweden, and until the
recent separation Of the two countries
King Of Norway. was born on January
81. 1929. He was the son of Oscar I and
grandson of Charles XIV of Sweden. the
famous Marshal Bernadotte. Oscar II
Norway on the death Of an elder brother,
Charles XIV. in 1872.
For thirty-five years a monarch, Oscar
II enjoyed a reign of unbroken peace as
to foreign relations, but saw the dissolu-
ton of the union existing between the two
kingdoms of Sweden and Norway. which
his most patient efforts retarded but could
not prevent. The relations Of the two
kingdoms formed the main political con-
Germ Of King Oscars life and remain as
the most significant event Of his reign.
Oscar many years before ascending the
throne, in 1857 married Sophia of Nassau
daughter of the late Wilhelm, Duke OF
Nassau. He had by her four sons the
Princes Gustaf, Oscar. Carl and Eugen
Gustaf, Duke of Wermland, the eldest, is
the successor to the throne. He married
Victoria Of Baden in 1881 and has several
children.
There are few monarchs who have been
more admired or loved than Oscar by the
people Of Sweden. and probably no mon
arch was better liked outside his realm.
Oscar has been pre-eminently the man of
talent among his brothers ot the Euro
pean thrones. He wrote extensively in
verse and in prose in Swedish and in
French. He. was the close friend of
such men as Lord Salisbury, and he made
friends of even his enemies, as witness
the case of the writer Bjornson, who once
challenged his monarch to duel.
Ancestry Of Oscar.
Physically King Oscar was as remark
able as in his other traits. He was COM
mandingly tall. powerfully built and. unit
recent years, in continuous good health
and maintained vigor. That he possessed
both address and courage was witnessed
by medal which he wore. 1t was a
medal for bravery awarded by the French
government in 1861 for two separate res
cues from death which Oscar effected on
a visit to Nice.
Ancestry gave this extraordinary mon
arch fair title to most of his brilliant quail
tiles. On his fathers side he was French,
a descendant of two remarkable figures
Of the time of the Napoleonic empire.
Bernadotte. one of the marshals of Ma
of a stock broker of Marseille. Berna-
dotte was peasant-bred and had made his
own way. His wife. it is said, had at
one time been affianced to the young Gen.
Bonaparte. who rejected her for jose
phine. Desiree married Bernadotte be-
cause She never forgot the affront. She
thought that she saw in the raw marshal
the only man who promised to make head
against the emperor. She guessed we'll.
Bernadotte, made King of Sweden by his
master. helped to overthrow Napoleon and
was affirmed on his throne by the Euro
It was striking coincidence that the
son of Bernadotte and Desiree Clary fell
in love with and succeeded in marrying
the granddaughter of the woman who be-
came the Empress Josephine. The mother
Of Oscar II was Josephine de Leuchten-
burg. daughter of Eugene Beauharnais
In this way did the Swedish monarch de-
scend from a group of the most brilliant
persons of their time in Europe.
Loved in Sweden.
The throne that fell to Oscars share on
his accession in 1872 was mot a situation.
unfortunately. that gave much scope to
his powers. The united kingdoms were at
the time prosperous and internationally
secure; they were under constitutional
governments which carried the greater
share of the burden of government. King
Oscars duties were light, and he was fairly
forced to find occupation for his urgent
energies in dil5ttantism.
His Swedish subjects idolized him as a
monarch OF such personal gifts had but
the right to expect. 1t was certainly the
great tragedy of dis life that his Norwe-
gian subjects over the mountains refused
him their affection