Gustav III of Sweden

Gustav III (13 January 1746 (O.S.) (24 January 1746 (N.S.))–March 29, 1792) was King of Sweden from 1771 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, sister of Frederick the Great.

Politics of an Heir Apparent

Gustav first intervened actively in politics in 1768, at the time of his father's interregnum, when he compelled the dominant Cap faction to summon an extraordinary diet from which he hoped for the reform of the constitution in a monarchical direction. But the victorious Hats refused to redeem the pledges which they had given before the elections. "That we should have lost the constitutional battle does not distress us so much," wrote Gustav, in the bitterness of his heart; "but what does dismay me is to see my poor nation so sunk in corruption as to place its own felicity in absolute anarchy."

Related Topics:
1768 - Interregnum - Cap - Faction - Diet - Constitution - Hats - Anarchy

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He was an enthusiast of Swedish national history, and proudly held in memory that he descended, through his paternal grandmother, from the Vasa dynasty: from king Gustav I of Sweden and from a sister of Charles X of Sweden.

Related Topics:
Gustav I of Sweden - Charles X of Sweden

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From 4 February to 25 March 1771, Gustav was at Paris, where he carried both the court and the city by storm. The poets and the philosophers paid him enthusiastic homage, and all the distinguished women of the day testified to his superlative merits. With many of them he maintained a lifelong correspondence. But his visit to the French capital was no mere pleasure trip; it was also a political mission. Confidential agents from the Swedish court had already prepared the way for him, and the duc de Choiseul, weary of Swedish anarchy, had resolved to discuss with him the best method of bringing about a revolution in Sweden. Before he departed, the French government undertook to pay the outstanding subsidies to Sweden unconditionally, at the rate of one and a half million livres annually; and the comte de Vergennes, one of the great names of French diplomacy, was transferred from Constantinople to Stockholm. On his way home Gustav paid a short visit to his uncle, Frederick the Great, at Potsdam. Frederick bluntly informed his nephew that, in concert with Russia and Denmark, he had guaranteed the integrity of the existing Swedish constitution, and significantly advised the young monarch to play the part of mediator and abstain from violence.

Related Topics:
4 February - 25 March - 1771 - Paris - Duc de Choiseul - Comte de Vergennes - Constantinople - Stockholm - Potsdam - Russia - Denmark

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