The Guadeloupe Fund () was established by

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Riksdag of the Estates Riksdag of the Estates (; informally ) was the name used for the Estates of Sweden when they were assembled. Until its dissolution in 1866, the institution was the highest authority in Sweden next to the King. It was a Diet made up of the Fou ...

in 1815 for the benefit of Crown Prince and

Regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

Charles XIV John, (Swedish: ''Karl XIV Johan'') also known as ''Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte'', and his heirs. Bernadotte had been one of the most successful soldiers in

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's army. He was a

Marshal of France Marshal of France (, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to General officer, generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished (1793–1804) ...

, former minister of war and had been created Prince of

Pontecorvo Pontecorvo is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. Its population is . History The village lies under Rocca Guglielma, a medieval fortification perched on an inaccessible spur. Its name derives from the ''pons curvu ...

by Napoleon, before accepting the election as Crown Prince and heir to the Swedish throne. Under his adoptive father, the reigning and yet powerless King

Charles XIII of Sweden Charles XIII or Carl XIII (; 7 October 1748 – 5 February 1818) was King of Sweden from 1809 and King of Norway from 1814 to his death. He was the second son (and younger brother to King Gustav III) of King Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Louisa ...

, Crown Prince Charles John was effectively the regent of the country, and when Sweden sided with Napoleon's enemies, Charles John came to be seen as a traitor to his native France. Upon Sweden's accession to the

Sixth Coalition Sixth is the ordinal form of the number six. * The Sixth Amendment, to the U.S. Constitution * A keg of beer, equal to 5 U.S. gallons or barrel * The fraction A fraction (from , "broken") represents a part of a whole or, more generally, ...

, Britain's offer of an island in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

was an attempt to, in some way, compensate for this. In 1810, British forces captured the island of

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

from the French. It was conveniently located in proximity to the Swedish colony of Saint Barthélemy. On 3 March 1813, Guadeloupe was ceded by Britain to Sweden, which was done in order to keep the Swedish Crown Prince "at least partially compensated for the donations and other property, which he had lost since being called to the succession of the Swedish throne", having also used proceeds of sales of his Italian and French property to pay off debts of Sweden and losses as a consequence of Sweden's involvement in the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. After France had been defeated and Napoleon exiled to

Elba Elba (, ; ) is a Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park, a ...

, the 1814 Treaty of Paris settled the terms of the peace, in which Guadeloupe, having previously been a French possession, was returned to France. On 13 August 1814, a settlement of 24 million

French franc The franc (; , ; currency sign, sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amoun ...

s was given by Britain to Sweden as a replacement for the intended compensation. The Crown Prince, acting as regent, used about half of the sum to pay off government debts; the rest went to various projects of public benefit. In recognition of this, the Riksdag of 1815 instituted that the Crown Prince and his heirs would receive an annual installment of 300,000

Riksdaler The Svenska riksdaler () was the name of a Swedish coin first minted in 1604. Between 1777 and 1873, it was the currency of Sweden. The daler, like the dollar,''National Geographic''. June 2002. p. 1. ''Ask Us''. was named after the German Thale ...

, which was to be paid out in

perpetuity In finance, a perpetuity is an annuity that has no end, or a stream of cash payments that continues forever. There are few actual perpetuities in existence. For example, the United Kingdom (UK) government issued them in the past; these were kno ...

. In the middle of the 20th century the scheme came under close scrutiny. Following a settlement between Britain and the

House of Bernadotte The House of Bernadotte is the monarchy of Sweden, royal family of Sweden, founded there in 1818 by King Charles XIV John of Sweden. It was also the monarchy of Norway, royal family of Norway between 1818 and 1905. Its founder was born in Pau, Py ...

, the last payment of the fund was made in 1983.

References

Other sources

*Calloway, Colin G. (2006) ''The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America'' (Oxford University Press) *Höjer, Torvald (1943) ''Carl XIV Johan: Kronprinstiden'' (Stockholm: Nordstedts Förlag) *Knight, Franklin W. (1997) ''General History of the Caribbean'' (UNESCO) {{ISBN, 9789231031465 Monarchy of Sweden 1815 in Sweden Economic history of Sweden

See also

References

Other sources