Jean Bernadotte was the French son of a lawyer who would later become King Karl XIV Johan of Sweden and King Karl III Johan of Norway. As you can imagine, many events had to fall into place in just such a way as to make this possible. As a young man, Bernadotte enlisted and quickly rose through military ranks until eventually Napoleon made him Marshall of the Empire in 1804. Sweden was hard up for a king and it’s thought that Bernadotte’s kindness to Swedish prisoners may have also played a part in making him a candidate for the Swedish throne. The Bernadotte Dynasty has ruled Sweden since.

In the end, Bernadotte’s was something you only see in the movies! No one ever gets that lucky, right?