He showed great discernment in his arrangement of dynastic matters.
Himself married to the fervently religious Princess Sophie of Nassau,
the king brought about the marriage of his oldest son, Crown Prince
Adolphus, the present king of Sweden, to Princess Victoria of Bade, a
granddaughter of Emperor William of Germany, and a great-granddaughter
of Gustavus IV of Sweden. His third son, Prince Charles, Duke of West
Gothland, is married to Princess Ingeborg of Denmark, a granddaughter
of Charles XV of Sweden. These unions are well calculated to
accentuate the increasing political, commercial, and cultural intimacy
with Germany, the Scandinavian policy of life predecessor, and the
desire of King Oscar to see the descendants of the old royal line of
Sweden as heirs to the crown. In giving his consent to the marriage
of his second son, Prince Oscar, to Lady Ebba Munck, of the Swedish
nobility, King Oscar gave evidence of the fact that he was not a
matchmaker regardless of the feelings of the parties involved. Prince
Oscar, formerly Duke of Gothland, upon renouncing his share of
inheritance to the throne of Sweden, also the throne of Norway, for
the two kingdoms were then united, was allowed to marry the choice of
his heart. King Oscar also tried to heal the wounds of the past by
opening the vaults of the church of Riddarholm to the sarcophagi of
Gustavus IV, the exiled king, and his son, and by giving Queen Carola
of Saxony, the only living granddaughter of Gustavus, repeated proofs
of esteem and considerate distinction.

King Oscar with his two crowns received as an inheritance two
important problems to be solved--the reorganization of the Swedish
army and the settlement of the difficulties between Norway and Sweden.
How he handled the latter has been told about in the preceding
chapter. The reorganization of the Swedish army was not effected until
after twenty years of parliamentary struggle, but is now, thanks to