Gustav IV Adolf
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Riddarholm Church, Sweden-Norway | |
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| Gustav III |
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Gustav IV Adolf or Gustav IV Adolph[1] (1 November 1778 – 7 February 1837) was King of Sweden from 1792 until he was deposed in a coup in 1809. He was also the last Swedish monarch to be the ruler of Finland.
The occupation of Finland in 1808–09 by Russian forces was the immediate cause of Gustav Adolf's overthrow, violently initiated by officers of his own army. Following his abdication on 29 March 1809, an Instrument of Government was hastily written, which severely circumscribed the powers of the monarchy. The "Instrument" was adopted in 1809 on 6 June, the National Day of Sweden now as well as in his time. It remained in force until replaced in 1974. The crown, now with strictly limited powers, passed to Gustav Adolf's uncle Charles XIII.[2]
Early life
Gustav Adolf was born in Stockholm. He was the son of Gustav III by his wife queen Sophia Magdalena. His mother, Sophia Magdalena, was eldest daughter of Frederick V of Denmark and his first wife Louise of Great Britain.
Gustav Adolf was under the tutelage of Hedvig Sofia von Rosen and her deputies Brita Ebba Celestina von Stauden and Maria Aurora Uggla until the age of four. He was then raised under the tutelage of his father and the liberal-minded Nils von Rosenstein. Upon Gustav III's assassination in March 1792, Gustav Adolf succeeded to the throne at the age of 13, under the regency of his uncle, Prince Charles, Duke of Södermanland, who was later to become King Charles XIII when his nephew was forced to abdicate and was banished from the country in 1809.
In August 1796, his uncle the regent arranged for the young king to visit
Politics
Gustav Adolf's prompt dismissal of the generally detested
Loss of Finland
His reign was ill-fated and was to end abruptly. In 1805, he joined the Third Coalition against
Coup d'état and abdication
Gustav Adolf was deposed by a conspiracy of army officers.
On 7 March 1809,
On 29 March Gustav IV Adolf, to save the crown for his son, voluntarily abdicated; but on 10 May the
In exile Gustav Adolf used several titles, including Count
Arms
 Coat of arms of King Gustav IV Adolf
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Ancestry
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Family
In 1797 he married Frederica Dorothea Wilhelmina of Baden, with whom he had five children:
- Habsburgs of Austria, and with his wife Princess Louise Amelie of Baden, fathered a son who died in infancy, and a daughter, Carola, the wife of Albert, King of Saxony. She died childless.
- Princess Sofia Wilhelmina (21 May 1801 – 1865). She married Grand Duke Leopold of Baden, and their granddaughter Victoria of Baden married the Bernadotte king Gustaf V. (The present King Carl XVI Gustaf is thus a descendant of Gustav IV.)
- Prince Carl Gustaf, Grand Duke of Finland (2 December 1802 – 10 September 1805)
- Princess Amalia (22 February 1805 – 31 August 1853); unmarried and without issue
- Princess Cecilia (22 June 1807 – 1844); married Augustus, Grand Duke of Oldenburg, and had issue.
By 1812, Gustav Adolf divorced his consort, and following this he had several mistresses, among them Maria Schlegel, who gave him a son, Adolf Gustafsson.
See also
Notes
- ISBN 0-86350-194-X, pp. 125, 134, 194, 207.
- ^ Cronholm, Neander N. (1902). A History of Sweden from the Earliest Times to the Present Day., ch. 37, pp. 203–219.
- ^ a b c d e Bain 1911.
References
- H. Arnold Barton, Scandinavia in the Revolutionary Era, 1760–1815, 1986, ISBN 0-8166-1392-3.
- Sten Carlsson, Gustaf IV Adolf, 1946.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bain, Robert Nisbet (1911). "Gustavus IV.". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 738.
External links
- . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
- . The American Cyclopædia. 1879.
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