Page 68 - Cultures and Organizations

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More Equal than Others

n a peaceful revolution—the last revolution in Swedish history—the
Inobles of Sweden in 1809 deposed King Gustav IV, whom they con-

sidered incompetent, and surprisingly invited Jean Baptiste Bernadotte,

a French general who served under their enemy Napoleon, to become
king of Sweden. Bernadotte accepted and became King Charles XIV

John; his descendants have occupied the Swedish throne to this day.

When the new king was installed, he addressed the Swedish parliament
in their language. His broken Swedish amused the Swedes, and they

roared with laughter. The Frenchman who had become king was so

upset that he never tried to speak Swedish again.
In this incident Bernadotte was a victim of culture shock: never in
his French upbringing and military career had he experienced subordi-
nates who laughed at the mistakes of their superior. Historians tell us he
had more problems adapting to the egalitarian Swedish and Norwegian

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