Background
To distinguish himself from his father, he was widely known as Carl Junior.
To distinguish himself from his father, he was widely known as Carl Junior.
He was the brother of Queen Astrid of Belgium and Crown Princess Märtha of Norway. When on 6 July 1937 at Kvillinge, Sweden, Prince Carl married Countess Elsa von Rosen (1904–1991), he had to relinquish his succession rights and his royal titles. They divorced in 1961 without issue.
Bernadotte died at age 92 on 27 June 2003 in Málaga, Spain.
His widow, Princess Kristine Bernadotte, died at their home at Villa Capricornio in Benalmadena, Spain, on November 4, 2014, at the age of 82, without issue. Carl Bernadotte was at the center of the Huseby scandal that occurred in the late 1950s in Sweden amidst a great deal of publicity.
Bernadotte and other suspects had gained the trust of Florence Stephens, a wealthy elderly heiress of a large estate near Växjö in southern Sweden. A complex set of criminal transactions led to the ruin of Stephens and brought Bernadotte and the others to court.
Bernadotte was acquitted, in spite of his full confession – it was considered that he had no criminal intent.
Bernadotte left Sweden shortly after the trial and spent the rest of his life in Spain.