Swedish fideikomiss

I read recently that with the change in swedish law to full cognatic
succession that a great deal of the bernadotte family wealth is to be

jan.bohme...

It's not really "a great deal of the family wealth". It is large part
of the family art collection. It's questionable whether the art may be
sold, or even used as a security for loans under the terms of the
fideikommiss, so the usefulness of the art collection in "wealth" terms
is somewhat limited.

seperated from the main line due to a clause in the family fideikomiss
that insists on passing said wealth to the eldest son.I have searched
for the original article with no luck,so would greatly appreciate any

jan.bohme...

The original article may be seen here:

However, it is in Swedish.

edespalais...

Roughly article says an important part of the fortune of the Swedish
Royal family goes not to the present head of State's eldest child but
to his son. This thanks to a *letter of gift* of Jos=E9phine Beauharnais

jan.bohme...

It says "a valuable part", not "an important part", which is a rather
important distinction, given my reasoning about how much "wealth" the
fideikommiss actually represents, due to the limitations of what one
can do with it.

As a general mechanism for inheritance, the fideikommisses were
abolished by law in Sweden in 1963. (Essentially all of them were large
real estate properties. Thus, the Galliera art collection was an
exception already from the start.) A fideikommiss may continue to be
inherited as such by special dispensation from the Government, provided
that there is a general benefit to society at large if the property be
transferred in an undivided manner. A couple of such dispensations have
been given throughout the years.

However, this particular fiedeikommiss isn't alive by standard
government dispensation, (which is valid for one succession only, and
has to be renewed for every new succession) but because of a special
resolution regulating its existence from 1964. It was initially not
clear whether the law of abolition of the fideikommisses in general
also covered royal fideikommisses. (The way I have understood things,
the drafters of the Fideikommiss Abolition Act of 1963 had hoped that
it wouldn't.) When it was resolved that it actually did, a governmental
resolution was passed that exempted the Galliera collection from the
abolition of fideikommisses _in perpetuity_. This seemed, at the time,
as the most clever thing to to to ensure that the collection remained
in the hands of the monarch. When the succession laws subsequently were
changed from salic to fully cognatic, this solution instantly became a
good deal less clever - although nobody has really bothered about it up
no now.

This Government may, of course, revoke its Resolution of 1964. But this
doesn't solve the problem. If the resolution were to be revoked, the
collection would be inherited equally by all three of the children of
the Swedish King, and then equally by their issue, and so on and so
forth, and thus be disseminated quickly. And because Queen Jos=E9phine
recieved the collection as a gift from Napoleon, together with the
conditions for inheritance, in 1813, well before anybody knew that she
would become Crown Princess of Sweden, the opition of applying in court
for permutation, arguing that "to heirs male" really was intended to
mean "to the Sovereign of Sweden" is without any hope of success,
because it quite obviously wasn't intended that way at all at the time
of the gift.

There are solutions to everything, of course. One possibility would be
that the Government revokes the resolution of 1964, liberating the
property of the bonds of the fideikommiss, whereupon the King donates
the colletion to a specific trust, which by its charter is under the
control of the Swedish Sovereign.

But the King might not want to do anything like this. One reason for
not wanting to do it might be that this collection under such
circumstances, were Sweden ever to become a republic, would pass
directly on to the State, instead of constituting an important nest egg
for the Royal family under their new circumstances.

Another reason the King might not want to do this is that he might
think that inheriting the Galliera collection actually would give
Prince Carl Philip an appropriate compensation for being stripped of
his birthright as heir apparent to the throne. Although the King of
course never has made an official statement about this, it is a "public
secret" in Sweden that the King thougt that it was frightfully bad form
to change succession laws in such a fashion that an heir to the throne
was stripped of his rights retroactively, even though this only
affected an infant a couple of months old who was never effectively
conscious of his status as heir apparent.

jan.bohme...

First, which of Prince Carl Philip's descendants who might or might not
be considered members of the Royal Family is entirely unchartered
territory. Under the previous Succession Order, every person who was in
remainder for the throne was by definition a Prince, and a member of
the Royal Family. The same point of view under the present Succession
Order, coupled with today's relaxed views of Ebenb=FCrtigkeit, would be
expected in due time to lead to a Royal family of positively Saudi
proportions.

So I suppose something eventually has to be done. But as yet, nobody
has bothered. The first precedent will be whether the future children
of Princess Madeleine become Princes and Princesses, just as the
children of Crown Princess Victoria are bound to be, and the children
of Prince Carl Philip in all likelihood will.

jan.bohme...

It is, to all legal intents and purposes, a private collection already,
which just happens currently to be inherited in the Swedish Royal
family. It obviously owes its continued existence as a fideikomiss to
its being inherited in the Swedish Royal family, but really nothing
else. This is a gift from Emperor Napoleon to Jos=E9phine de
Beauharnais, to be inhterited in tail by her heirs male.

That the current owner of the property is King of Sweden is pure
happenstance.

jan.bohme...

None whatsoever. And nor did Emperor Napoleon intend to link it to the
Swedish Crown, when he gave the property to Jos=E9phine de Beauharnais.

Jan B=F6hme

Jan B=F6hme

information fellow posters have on this.Thank you for any input.
Kaylyn Cartins