When Prince Carl married Countess Elsa von Rosen (1904–1991), on 6 July 1937 at Kvillinge, Sweden, he had to relinquish his succession rights and his royal titles.

His third and final marriage took place at the Embassy of Sweden in Rabat, Morocco, on 8 June 1978, when he married Kristine Rivelsrud.

His widow, Princess Kristine Bernadotte, died at their home at Villa Capricornio in Benalmadena, Spain, on 4 November 2014 at the age of 82, without issue.

Carl Bernadotte was at the centre 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.