Bernardine Eugénie Désirée Clary (Swedish: Eugenia Bernhardina Desideria;[1] 8 November 1777 – 17 December 1860) was Queen of Sweden and Norway from 5 February 1818 to 8 March 1844 as the wife of King Charles XIV John.

In 1795–1797, Clary lived with her mother in Genoa in Italy, where her brother-in-law Joseph had a diplomatic mission; they were also joined by the Bonaparte family.

[6] Clary eventually met her future spouse, Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, another French general and politician.

During the coup, the couple were forced to take refuge in the country villa of General Sarrazin at Villeneuve St. Georges: she apparently dressed as a man during the escape.

She was not interested in politics, but her good connections made her a puppet in the hands of her husband and Napoleon, who both used her to influence each other and to pass messages.

Napoleon suspected Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, and interrogated his wife, who naively told him that her spouse had not been involved, though he had met Moreau in their home and mumbled his name as well as the word conspiracy in his sleep.

Napoleon gave her an allowance, and a house in Rue d'Anjou Saint-Honoré, where she resided for the rest of her life when in Paris.

She lived in the circle of the Bonaparte and Clary family and also participated in high society, where she enjoyed music, theater and dance, while she spent her summers at spas or her country villas at La Grange and Auteuil.

She was delighted with the position she had received at the French court after her elevation to crown princess (she had been invited to court events every week), and she was frightened by the stories of her reluctant French servants, who tried to discourage her from leaving by saying that Sweden was a country close to the North Pole filled with Polar bears.

She had been met in Helsingborg by her appointed Mistress of the Robes Countess Caroline Lewenhaupt and the maid of honor Mariana Koskull.

[6] Desideria was not religious,[6] but the Catholic masses served to remind her of France, and she celebrated the birth of Napoleon II by a Te Deum in her chapel.

Desideria was unable to adapt to the demands of formal court etiquette or participate in the representational duties which were required of her in her position of Crown Princess.

"[7] Queen Charlotte, who wanted to remain the center of attention at her own court, was not pleased with Desideria and also influenced King Charles against her.

[3] Desideria left Sweden in the summer of 1811 under the name of Countess of Gotland, officially because of her health, and returned to Paris, leaving her husband and her son behind.

She had no court, just her lady's companion Elise la Flotte to assist her as hostess at her receptions, and she mostly associated with a circle of close friends and family.

During the summer of 1813, she retired to the country estate of Julie, Mortefontaine, with Catharina of Württemberg to avoid attention before she returned to Paris New Year's Eve of 1814.

During this period, she fell in love with the French prime minister, the Duc de Richelieu, which attracted attention.

[6] According to one version, she fell in love with him after Louis XVIII had assigned him to deny her regular appeal for her sister Julie in the most charming way possible.

[6] According to Laure Junot, she did not dare to speak to him or approach him, but she followed him wherever he went, tried to make contact with him, followed him on his trip to Spa, and had flowers placed in his room.

[5] Another version of her behavior toward him was, that her consort had given her the task to make contact with Richelieu for political reasons, but that his attitude had made her too embarrassed to do so.

Three days later, the royal court and the government were presented to her, and on 19 June, she participated in the official welcoming of Josephine and witnessed the wedding.

A well-known story is that after her return to Sweden there was a warm and dry period, so the peasants turning up to see her were coaxed into greeting her with "Vi vill ha regn!"

She could enter his bedroom and stay there until late at night even though he hinted to her that he wished to be alone with his favorite Count Magnus Brahe.

"[6] Queen Desideria enjoyed social life, but only if it was informal, and her strong dislike of court etiquette, and refusal to submit to it, made it hard for her to accustom to her position as queen and make herself respected by the nobility, who privately ridiculed her difficulty to adjust to etiquette,[13] and she was also regarded with some snobbery because of her past as a merchant's daughter and a republican.

Consequently, it was difficult for her to discipline her aristocratic ladies-in-waiting, whom Charles John appointed without consulting her, and who preferred to sort out conflicts regarding etiquette among themselves instead of asking her to mediate, which on at least one occasion led to a scene which caused Charles John to reprimand her: "Try to make your ladies not to announce their actions and conflicts to the public as it happened the day you departed from Stockholm", after an incident when two ladies-in-waiting had "screamed like rower madams" about precedence in the seats of the queen's carriage during a journey.

[13] These difficulties were somewhat subdued during the tenure of her niece Marcelle Tascher de la Pagerie, who made a social success, and her first years as queen are described as a time of balls and parties, more than had been seen at the Swedish court since the days of King Gustav III.

After the departure of her niece to France, she often socialized with the rich merchant Carl Abraham Arfwedson, who had once been a guest in her childhood home.

Her son, the new King Oscar I, allowed her to keep living in the queen's quarters in the Royal Palace as well as her entire court staff out of consideration, so that she would not have to change her habits.

[6] Desideria had a fairly harmonious relationship with her daughter-in-law, and felt sympathy for her grandson's bride, Princess Louise of the Netherlands.

[2] On 17 December 1860, Queen Desideria entered her box at the Royal Swedish Opera just after the performance had ended and upon returning to Stockholm Palace, she collapsed before reaching her apartment, dying at 83 years of age in the reign of her grandson King Charles XV (her son King Oscar I having predeceased her).