March 15, 1792: Assassination of King Gustaf III of Sweden

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Adolph Ribbing, Carl Fredrik Pechlin., Carl Pontus Lilliehorn, Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Christiansborg Palace, Claes Fredrik Horn, Jacob Johan Anckarström, King Carl XII of Sweden, King Frederik V of Denmark, King George II of Great Britain, King Gustaf III of Sweden, Princess Louise of Great Britain

Gustaf III (January 24, 1746 – March 29, 1792) was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia.

King Gustaf III was a vocal opponent of what he saw as the abuse of political privileges seized by the nobility since the death of King Carl XII. Seizing power from the government in a coup d’état, called the Swedish Revolution, in 1772 that ended the Age of Liberty, he initiated a campaign to restore a measure of Royal autocracy, which was completed by the Union and Security Act of 1789, which swept away most of the powers exercised by the Swedish Riksdag (parliament) during the Age of Liberty, but at the same time it opened up the government for all citizens, thereby breaking the privileges of the nobility.

A believer in enlightened absolutism, Gustaf spent considerable public funds on cultural ventures, which were controversial among his critics, as well as military attempts to seize Norway with Russian aid, then a series of attempts to re-capture the Swedish Baltic dominions lost during the Great Northern War through the failed war with Russia. Nonetheless, his successful leadership in the Battle of Svensksund averted a complete military defeat and signified that Swedish military might was to be countenanced.

Gustaf married Princess Sophia Magdalena, daughter of King Frederik V of Denmark and his first consort, the former Princess Louise of Great Britain, the youngest surviving daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach.

The by proxy marriage occurred in Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen, on October 1, 1766 and in person in Stockholm on November 4, 1766. Gustaf was first impressed by Sophia Magdalena’s beauty, but her silent nature made her a disappointment in court life. The match was not a happy one, owing partly to an incompatibility of temperament, but still more to the interference of Gustav’s jealous mother, Queen Louisa Ulrika.

The marriage produced two children: Crown Prince Gustaf Adolph (1778–1837), future King Gustaf IV Adolph and Prince Carl Gustaf, Duke of Småland (1782–1783). For the consummation of the marriage, the king and queen requested actual physical instruction by Count Adolf Munck, reportedly because of anatomical problems of both spouses. There were also rumors that the queen was made pregnant by Munck, who would then be the true father of the heir Prince Gustav Adolph.

Gustaf’s mother supported rumors that he was not the father of his first son and heir. It was rumored at the time that Gustaf III was homosexual, a possibility asserted by some writers. The close personal relationships that he formed with two of his courtiers, Count Axel von Fersen and Baron Gustav Armfelt, were alluded to in that regard. His sister-in-law Charlotte implied as much in her famous diary.

Assassination

Gustaf III’s war against Russia and his implementation of the Union and Security Act of 1789 helped increase hatred against the king which had been growing among the nobility ever since the coup d’état of 1772. A conspiracy to have the king assassinated and reform the constitution was created within the nobility in the winter of 1791–92. Among those involved were Jacob Johan Anckarström, Adolph Ribbing, Claes Fredrik Horn, Carl Pontus Lilliehorn and Carl Fredrik Pechlin. Anckarström was chosen to carry out the murder with pistols and knives, but there has also been evidence suggesting that Ribbing was the one who actually shot Gustav.

The assassination of the king was enacted at a masked ball at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm at midnight on March 16, 1792. Gustaf III had arrived earlier that evening to enjoy a dinner in the company of friends. During dinner, he received an anonymous letter that described a threat to his life (written by the colonel of the Life guards Carl Pontus Lilliehorn), but, as the king had received numerous threatening letters in the past, he chose to ignore it.

To dare any possible assassins, the King went out into an open box facing the opera stage. And after roughly ten minutes he said “this would have been an opportunity to shoot. Come, let us go down. The ball seems to be merry and bright.” The King with Baron Hans Henrik von Essen by his right arm went around the theatre once and then into the foyer where they met Captain Carl Fredrik Pollet.

The King, von Essen and Pollet continued through a corridor leading from the foyer towards the opera stage where the dancing took place. On the stage several masked men – some witnesses talked of 20 or 30 men – made it impossible for the king to proceed. Due to the crowd, Pollet receded behind the King, who bent backwards to talk to Pollet.

Anckarström stood with Ribbing next to him at the entrance to the corridor holding a knife in his left hand and carrying one pistol in his left inner pocket and another pistol in his right back pocket. They edged themselves behind the King, Anckarström took out the pistol from his left inner pocket and Ribbing or he pulled the trigger with the gun in Anckarström’s hand. Because of the King turning backwards the shot went in at an angle from the third lumbar vertebra towards the hip region.

The King twitched and said “aee” without falling. Anckarström then lost courage, dropped the pistol and knife and shouted fire. People from the King’s lifeguard stood some meters away. When they reached the King, they heard him say in French “Aï, je suis blessé” (Ouch, I am wounded).

The king was carried back to his quarters, and the exits of the Opera were sealed. Anckarström was arrested the following morning and immediately confessed to the murder, although he denied a conspiracy until informed that Horn and Ribbing had also been arrested and had confessed in full.

The king had not been shot dead; he was alive and continued to function as head of state. The coup was a failure in the short run. However, the wound became infected, and on March 29, the king finally died with these last words:

Jag känner mig sömnig, några ögonblicks vila skulle göra mig gott (“I feel sleepy, a few moments’ rest would do me good”)

Gustaf III’s gunshot wound was not initially considered life-threatening; reexamined evidence allows that the sudden serious infection that killed him almost immediately, 13 days into his convalescence, may have been caused chemically by attending surgeon Daniel Théel [sv] who was his known adversary.

Ulrica Arfvidsson, the famous medium of the Gustavian era, had told him something that could be interpreted as a prediction of his assassination in 1786, when he visited her anonymously – a coincidence – but she was known to have a large network of informers all over town to help her with her predictions, and she was in fact interrogated about the murder.

August 19, 1772: Gustaf III of Sweden becomes an Absolute Monarch

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Adolf Fredrik of Sweden, Age of Liberty, coup d'état, King Gustaf III of Sweden, Riksdag, Sophia Magdalena of Denmark, The 1772 Instrument of Government

Gustaf III (January 24, 1746 – March 29,1792) was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of King Adolf Fredrik
of Sweden and Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, the daughter of King Friedrich Wilhelm I in Prussia and his wife Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, and was thus a younger sister of King Friedrich II the Great of Prussia.

In Stockholm on November 4, 1766, Crown Prince Gustaf married Princess Sophia Magdalena, daughter of King Frederik V of Denmark and Louise of Great Britain the youngest surviving daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach.

Gustaf was first impressed by Sophia Magdalena’s beauty, but her silent nature made her a disappointment in court life. The match was not a happy one, owing partly to an incompatibility of temperament, but still more to the interference of Gustav’s jealous mother, Queen Louisa Ulrika.

On February 12, 1771 with the death of King Adolf Fredrik, his eldest son became King Gustaf III of Sweden.

At the time of his accession, the Swedish Riksdag held more power than the monarchy, but the Riksdag was bitterly divided between rival parties, the Hats and Caps.

Gustaf III tried unsuccessfully to mediate between the bitterly divided parties. On June 21, 1771, he opened his first Riksdag with a speech that aroused powerful emotions. It was the first time in more than a century that a Swedish king had addressed a Swedish Riksdag in its native tongue.

He stressed the need for all parties to sacrifice their animosities for the common good, and volunteered, as “the first citizen of a free people,” to be the mediator between the contending factions. A composition committee was actually formed, but it proved illusory from the first: the patriotism of neither faction was sufficient for the smallest act of self-denial.

The subsequent attempts of the dominant Caps to reduce him to the role of a powerless king, encouraged him to consider a coup d’état.

Under the sway of the Cap faction, Sweden seemed in danger of falling prey to the political ambitions of Russia. It appeared on the point of being absorbed into the Northern Accord sought by the Russian vice-chancellor, Count Nikita Panin. It seemed to many that only a swift and sudden coup d’état could preserve Sweden’s independence.

Gustaf III was approached by Jacob Magnus Sprengtporten, a Finnish nobleman, who had incurred the enmity of the Caps, with the prospect of a revolution. He undertook to seize the fortress of Sveaborg in Finland by a coup de main. Once Finland was secured, he intended to embark for Sweden, join up with the king and his friends near Stockholm, and force the estates to accept a new constitution dictated by the king.

Princess Sophia Magdalena of Denmark

During the Age of Liberty (1719-72), Sweden was governed as a constitutional monarchy, initially under the Instrument of Government (1719) and later under the near-identical Instrument of Government (1720). Under this system, the king played a relatively minor role in the government, which was instead dominated by the Riksdag of the Estates, with most of the executive functions of government being discharged by the Council of the Realm (Riksdag).

The Age of Liberty is generally remembered as a golden age of political and artistic freedom, but it was also characterised by factional struggles between the so-called “Cap” and “Hat” parties in the Riksdag and by military humiliation in the Hats’ War (1741-3) and the Pomeranian War (1757-62). Indeed, some historians argue that by the early 1770s the situation had deteriorated to the extent that Sweden was on the brink of anarchy.

Gustaf III was therefore able to attract considerable support for his scheme to overthrow the government and replace the 1720 Instrument of Government with a new constitution. On August 19, 1772 the king rallied the Stockholm garrison and arrested the Council of the Realm, along with several prominent members of the Cap party. Two days later he convened a session of the Riksdag and compelled it to accept a new constitution which he had drawn up, the 1772 Instrument of Government.

The 1772 Instrument of Government was the constitution of the Kingdom of Sweden from 1772 to 1809. It was promulgated in the wake of the Revolution of 1772, a self-coup mounted by King Gustaf III, and replaced the 1720 Instrument of Government, which had been in force for most of the Age of Liberty (1719-72).

Although in theory the 1772 Instrument merely readjusted the balance of power between the crown and the Riksdag of the Estates without changing Sweden’s status as a constitutional monarchy, in practice it is generally seen as instituting an absolute monarchy, especially after its modification in 1789 by the Union and Security Act, which further strengthened royal power at the expense of the Riksdag.

King Gustaf III of Sweden and his Brothers; Gustaf III (left) and his two brothers, Prince Fredrik Adolf and Prince Carl, later Carl XIII of Sweden. Painting by Alexander Roslin.

However, while Gustaf III may have admired republican concepts like the separation of powers in theory, in practice he tended to rule as an enlightened despot, akin to contemporaries such as Joseph II of Austria and Friedrich II the Great of Prussia, rather than as a constitutional monarch.

The phraseology of the Instrument of Government was rather vague, in part due to its having been written in haste in the aftermath of the coup, and although it invoked ideas like the separation of powers, it provided few practical checks upon the king’s power. Moreover, in 1789 Gustav removed many of the few limits which did exist upon his power by compelling the Riksdag to pass the Union and Security Act, which revised the Instrument of Government in a more nakedly authoritarian direction.

The 1772 Instrument of Government remained in force throughout the Gustavian era, until replaced by the 1809 Instrument of Government as a result of the Coup of 1809.

King Carl XIII of Sweden and Norway. Part III.

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Assassination, Carl XIII of Sweden and Norway, Christian August of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, Coup, Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, King Carl XIV Johan of Sweden and Norway, King Gustaf III of Sweden, King Gustaf IV Adolf of Sweden

Reign of Gustav IV Adolf

On the assassination of Gustaf III in 1792, Carl acted as regent of Sweden till 1796 on behalf of his nephew, King Gustaf IV Adolf who was a minor when his father was shot in the Stockholm opera. Gustaf III had designated him regent in his earlier will. When he was dying, he altered the will, and while still appointing Carl as regent of his minor son, he was no longer to rule absolute, but restricted by a government consisted of the supporters of Gustaf III. After the death of the monarch, however, Carl successfully contested the will and was given unlimited power as sole regent.

Carl, as Duke-regent was in practice not willing or capable to manage the state affairs, reportedly because of his lack of energy and staying power. Instead, he entrusted the power of government to his favorite and adviser Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm, whose influence over him was supreme. These four years have been considered perhaps the most miserable and degrading period in Swedish history; an Age of Lead succeeding an Age of Gold, as it has been called, and may be briefly described as alternations of fantastic jacobinism and the ruthless despotism.

Reuterholm ruled as the uncontested regent de facto the entire tenure of the regency, “only seldom disturbed by other influences or any personal will of charles”. The unexpectedly mild sentences of the involved in the regicide of Gustaf III attracted attention. In 1794 the discovery of the Armfelt Conspiracy exposed the opposition of the Gustavian Party. The marriage negotiations of the young king disturbed the relationship to Russia, and the alliance with revolutionary France was greatly disliked by other powers.

On the coming of age of Gustaf IV Adolf of Sweden in November 1796, the duke’s regency ended. His relationship to Gustaf IV Adolf was cordial though never close, and he was not entrusted with much responsibility during the rule of his nephew. In 1797 and 1798, he and his consort had their first children, though in neither case the child lived. After this, the Duke and Duchess made a journey through Germany and Austria in 1798–99.

In 1803, the Boheman affair caused a severe conflict between Gustaf IV Adolf and the ducal couple. The mystic Karl Adolf Boheman (1764–1831) had been introduced to the couple by Count Magnus Stenbock in 1793 and gained great influence by promising to reveal scientific secrets about the occult.

Boheman inducted them into a secret society Yellow Rose in 1801, where both sexes where accepted as members, and to which the Counts and Countesses Ruuth and Brahe as well as the mother of the queen were introduced. Boheman was arrested upon an attempt to recruit the monarch, who accused him of revolutionary agendas and expelled him.

Duke Carl and Duchess Hedwig Elisabeth Charlotte were exposed in an informal investigation by Gustaf IV Adolf, and the duchess was questioned in the presence of the royal council. In 1808, Carl was again chief commander during Gustaf IV Adolf’s stay in Finland. He is presumed to have been, if not involved, aware of the plans to depose Gustaf IV Adolf in 1809.

Carl kept passive during the Coup of 1809, and accepted the post of regent from the victorious party after having assured himself that the deposed monarch was not in mortal danger. Carl was initially not willing to accept the crown, however, out of consideration for the former king’s son, Crown Prince Gustaf, Prince of Vasa

Reign

On March 13, 1809, those who had dethroned Gustaf IV Adolf appointed Carl regent, and he was finally elected king by the Riksdag of the Estates. By the time he became king, as Carl XIII of Sweden and Norway, he was 60 years old and prematurely decrepit. In November 1809, he was affected by a heart attack, and was not able to participate in government. The new constitution which was introduced also made his involvement in politics difficult. A planned attempt to enlarge the royal power in 1809–10 was not put into effect because of his indecisiveness and health condition.

His incapacity triggered a search for a suitable heir. The initial choice was a Danish prince, Christian August, the son of Friedrich Christian I, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (1721–1794) and Princess Charlotte of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön (1744–1770). He was a younger brother of Friedrich Christian II, Duke of Augustenburg, brother-in-law of Princess Louise Auguste of Denmark and an uncle of Caroline Amalie of Augustenburg, Queen consort of Denmark and Christian August, Duke of Augustenburg. He did not marry.

As heir to the throne of Sweden and Norway Christian August took the name Charles August upon being adopted by King Carl XIII. However, Charles August died only a few months after his arrival in Sweden.

One of Napoleon’s generals, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, was then chosen as his successor. The new Crown Prince, adopting the name Carl Johan took over the government as soon as he landed in Sweden in 1810. Carl XIII’s condition deteriorated every year, especially after 1812, and he eventually became but a mute witness during the government councils chaired by the crown prince, having lost his memory and no longer being able to communicate.

By the Union of Sweden and Norway on November 4, 1814 Carl XIII became King of Norway under the name Carl II of Norway. After eight years as king only by title, Carl XIII died without a natural heir on February 5, 1818, and Bernadotte succeeded him as King Carl XIV Johan.

October 8, 1753: Birth of Princess Sophia Albertina of Sweden, Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg Abbey. Part I

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14 points, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Grand Duke Peter I of Oldenburg, Holy Roman Empire, King Carl XIII of Sweden and Norway, King Gustaf III of Sweden, King Stanisław August Poniatowski of Poland, Kingdom of Sweden, Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg, Sophia Albertina of Sweden

From the Emperor’s Desk: I have been posting on the life of King Carl XIII of Sweden and, who was born on October 7. Today I will be posting about his sister who was born October 8, five years later.

Princess Sophia Albertina of Sweden (October 8, 1753 – March 17, 1829) was the last Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg Abbey, and as such reigned as vassal monarch of the Holy Roman Empire.

Sophia Albertina was the daughter of King Adolf Fredrik of Sweden and Louisa Ulrika of Prussia. She was thus a princess of Sweden, a princess of Holstein-Gottorp and a sister to Gustaf III of Sweden and Carl XIII of Sweden and Norway. She was a member of the Accademia di San Luca. When her brother Carl XIII of Sweden and the rest of the royal family also became Norwegian royalty in 1814, that did not include Sophia Albertina who then officially was called Royal Princess (of no country).

She was given her two names as namesake of her two grandmothers:

Sophia Dorothea of Hanover (March 26, 1687 – June 28, 1757) was a Queen consort in Prussia as spouse of King Friedrich Wilhelm I. She was the sister of George II, King of Great Britain, and the mother of Friedrich II, King of Prussia.

Princess and Margravine Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach (July 3, 1682 – December 22, 1755) was a German princess. She was the daughter of Friedrich VII, Margrave of Baden-Durlach and his wife Duchess Augusta Marie of Holstein-Gottorp. She married Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin.

Living at the court of her mother, Sophia Albertina was somewhat isolated after 1771, when her mother and her reigning brother became more and more at odds with each other.

Sophia Albertina and her youngest brother, Prince Fredrik Adolf of Sweden, were the favourites of their mother, and also very close themselves. Sophia Albertina lived at her mother’s court and under her strict control until the latter’s death in 1782.

During the conflict of 1778, when her mother, the Queen Dowager, supported the rumour that her brother King Gustaf III had given the task to father his heir to Count Fredrik Adolf Munck, Sophia Albertina and her brother Fredrik sided with their mother. In 1780, when the carriage of the Queen Dowager and Sophia Albertina met the carriages of the King and the Queen, Sophia Albertina avoided a confrontation by waving at the royal couple, thereby hiding her mother from view.

At her mother’s death in 1782, she and her brother Fredrik burned some of their mother’s papers before they could be seen by the King. In Stockholm, a palace was built as her residence, known today as Arvfurstens Palats. Unlike her brothers, she was not given a residence in the countryside because she was expected always to accompany her brothers’ court.

Sophia Albertina was not described as beautiful or intelligent, but she enjoyed parties and participated enthusiastically in the festivities of the court of Gustaf III. According to her sister-in-law, Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte, she was good hearted but very temperamental and hard to handle, and she is described as generous and caring but easily provoked into conflicts.

Sophia Albertina did not like to see women be treated badly, and often intervened when she considered a woman at court to have been insulted or in any way badly treated, such as when Gustaf III in her eyes treated the ladies-in-waiting participating in his amateur theatre too hard, and when her sister-in-law was given a bad seat in the theatre, which caused Sophia Albertina to accuse her of not attending to her rights

Sophia Albertina was interested in theatre and dance, though according to Axel von Fersen the Elder she lacked talent for it, and she also participated in the amateur theatre at court. She was interested in riding and hunting and had at least thirteen named dogs as pets.

She painted in pastel and made profile portraits and caricatures. During a visit to Rome in 1793, she was inducted into the Accademia di San Luca. Like her sister-in-law, she enjoyed hunting. She also had several small dogs: Bellman once wrote a poem about her 13 dogs.

Private life

Early on, there were plans for a possible marriage for Sophia Albertina. In 1772 her brother, King Gustaf III, who lived in a childless and unconsummated marriage, had the idea of letting his younger siblings provide an heir to the throne, and both Sophia Albertina and her brother Prince Charles was considered for this task.

Among the marriage partners considered for Sophia Albertina were her cousin Prince Peter of Holstein-Gottorp, Grand Duke of Oldenburg and Prince-Bishop of Lübeck, but these plans were abandoned in 1780.

A marriage to King Stanisław August Poniatowski of Poland was also suggested, despite the religious differences, but the match was opposed by the king’s sisters Ludwika Maria Poniatowska and Izabella Poniatowska, and nothing came of it.

Sophia Albertina was sometimes called The Princess with the ice heart. However, it was common knowledge in Stockholm that she was not exempt from having a love life. There were well-known and persistent rumours that Sophia Albertina gave birth to a child sometime in 1785/86.

The child has sometime been said to be a son, named Peter Niklas, or a daughter, named Sophia after herself. The place for the birth has been suggested as Allmänna Barnbördshuset, a public hospital, where women were allowed to give birth with their faces covered by a mask to preserve their anonymity.

The purported daughter was allegedly brought up by foster parents and it was arranged that she be married off to a wealthy merchant as an adult. This rumour is unconfirmed and the truth of it is unknown. The father was often identified as Count Fredrik Vilhelm von Hessenstein, son of King Fredrik I of Sweden and his mistress Hedvig Taube. Another suggested father was Gustav Badin, her African butler, but there is no mention that the child was of mixed race.

Fredrik Vilhelm von Hessenstein is often pointed out as the love of Sophia Albertina, and she is said to have wished to marry him, but Gustaf III refused to grant his permission because the mother of Hessenstein had been a royal mistress.

October 7, 1748: Birth of King Carl XIII of Sweden and Norway. Part I.

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Caps, Carl XIII of Sweden and Norway, Duke of Södermanland, Frederick II the Great of Prussia, Hedwig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp, King Gustaf III of Sweden

Carl XIII (October 7, 1748 – February 5, 1818), was King of Sweden from 1809 and King of Norway from 1814 to his death. He was the second son (and younger brother to King Gustaf III) of King Adolf Fredrik of Sweden and Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, sister of Friedrich II the Great.

Though known as King Carl XIII in Sweden, he was actually the seventh Swedish king by that name, as Carl IX (reigned 1604–1611) had adopted his numeral after studying a fictitious history of Sweden. In Norway he is known as Carl II.

Early life

Prince Carl was placed under the tutelage of Hedvig Elisabet Strömfelt and then Ulrica Schönström. He was appointed grand admiral when he was but few days old. He was described as a good dancer at the amateur theatre of the royal court. Reportedly he was not very close to his mother. The Queen preferred her youngest children, Sophie Albertine and Fredrik Adolf.

Carl was, however, his father’s favorite, and similar to him in personality. He was also described as close to his brother Gustaf during their childhood.

Because of his position as the heir to the throne after his elder brother Gustaf, he was early targeted as a useful tool for the opposition to his brother: already in the 1760s, the Caps (party) tried to use him against his brother the crown prince through his then love interest countess Brita Horn, daughter of the Cap’s politician Adam Horn. Gustaf, however, was always careful to prevent Carl from being used by the opposition, which came to its first test during the December Crisis (1768), when Carl, ultimately, did not let himself be used by the Caps party. In 1770, he made a journey through the Holy Roman Empire and France alone.

Reign of Gustaf III

After the death of his father in 1771, when his brother the crown prince was abroad, the Caps once again attempted to use him against his brother, now King Gustaf III of Sweden, and his mother Louisa Ulrika used this in order to have her own rights as a dowager queen respected by the Caps. Upon the departure of his mother to Prussia, and the return of his brother, however, Gustaf III managed to win him to his side.

In 1772 he cooperated in the Revolution of 1772 of his elder brother, King Gustaf III. He was given the task of using his connections in the Caps party to neutralize it and secure the southern provinces by use of the military, tasks he performed successfully and for which the king rewarded him with the title Duke of Södermanland.

Duke Carl in early years was the object of his mother’s plans to arrange political marriages for her children. On the wish of his mother, he was to be married to her niece, his cousin, Philippine of Brandenburg-Schwedt, a plan to which he had agreed in 1770. The government, however, refused to issue negotiations because of the costs. After the accession of Gustaf III and the coup d’état which introduced absolute monarchy, his brother terminated these plans against their mother’s will in October 1772, and began negotiations for a marriage between Carl and his cousin Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp.

As King Gustaf III had not consummated his own marriage, he wished to place the task of providing an heir to the throne with his brother. Carl agreed to the marriage in August 1773, and the marriage took place the following year.

Hedwig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp (March 22, 1759 – June 20, 1818) was daughter of Duke Friedrich August I of Holstein-Gottorp and Princess Ulrike Friederike Wilhelmine of Hesse-Cassel. The wedding between Carl, Duke of Södermanland and his cousin Hedwig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp took place in Stockholm on July 7, 1774 when she was fifteen years old and Carl was 26.

Hedwig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp was also a famed diarist, memoirist and wit. She is known by her full pen name (above), though her official name as queen was Charlotte (Charlotta).

After a false alarm of a pregnancy of Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte in 1775, the king finally consummated his own marriage.

King Gustaf III was married to Princess Sofie Magdalene of Denmark the eldest surviving child of King Frederik V of Denmark and his first consort, the former Princess Louise of Great Britain, the youngest surviving daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach.

The royal couple lived separate private lives and each had extramarital affairs. During the great succession scandal of 1778, when queen dowager Louisa Ulrika questioned the paternity of the issue of Gustaf III, Carl sided with his brother the king against their mother, this despite the fact that it was in fact he who had informed her of the rumors regarding the legitimacy, something he however withheld from the king.

Sweden: The Instrument of Government was adopted on June 6, 1809

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Absolute Monarchy, Constitutional Monarchy, Instrument of Government 1809, King Carl XIII of Sweden, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, King Gustaf III of Sweden, King Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden, Kingdom of Sweden, Riksdag

Also on this date in Swedish history. The Instrument of Government (Swedish: 1809 års regeringsform) was adopted on June 6, 1809 by the Riksdag of the Estates and King Carl XIII, was one of the fundamental laws that made up the constitution of Sweden from 1809 to the end of 1974.

King Carl XIII of Sweden and Norway

The Instrument of Government came about after the Coup of 1809, when the disastrous outcome in the Finnish War led Swedish nobles and parts of the Army to revolt, forcing King Gustaf IV Adolf to involuntarily abdicate and go into exile.

For half a century, starting with the Instrument of Government of 1719, often referred to as the Age of Liberty, Sweden had enjoyed parliamentary rule under the Riksdag of the Estates, but in 1772 that was ended by a coup d’état perpetrated by Gustaf III. The coup enabled Gustav III to rule as an enlightened despot, in other words, an absolute monarch. Gustaf III’s son, Gustaf IV Adolph, succeeded him but proved a less charismatic ruler, and the change of sides of Russia in the Napoleonic wars prompted the disastrous Finnish War and the loss of Finland, settled in the Treaty of Fredrikshamn. This provided momentum for the Swedish nobility and other forces to depose the king and restore political power to the Estates.

The aged and childless brother of Gustaf III, Carl XIII was made king in 1809, but he was a mere puppet in the hands of the Estates and the question of his successor had to be solved. The election, by the Riksdag of the Estates, of the French Marshal and Prince of Pontecorvo Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte in 1810, provided not only a successor, but also a vital regent and a new dynasty. The rights of Bernadotte’s successors to accede to the Swedish throne were codified in an amendment to the constitution in the form of the Act of Succession (1810).

The Instrument of Government of 1809 replaced the Instrument of Government of 1772. It established a separation of powers between the executive branch (the king) and the legislative branch (the Riksdag of the Estates). The King and Riksdag possessed joint power over legislation (article 87, constitutional law in articles 81-86), while the Riksdag had sole power over the budget and state incomes and expenses (articles 57-77) including military burdens (article 73). While the king’s power was somewhat reduced compared to the enlightened absolutism of Gustaf III, the new document enabled the king to take a more active role in politics than during the Age of Liberty.

The liberals won a decisive victory in 1917, but Gustaf III tried to appoint another conservative ministry. However, it could not garner nearly enough support in the Riksdag. It was now obvious that the king could no longer pick a government entirely of his choosing, nor could he keep it in office against the will of the Riksdag. Gustaf yielded and appointed a liberal-social democratic coalition that effectively arrogated most of the crown’s political powers to itself.

At that time, it was definitively established that ministers were politically responsible (not just legally) to the Riksdag. From then on, while ministers were still formally appointed by the king, convention required him to ensure they had the support of a majority in the Riksdag and to act on his ministers’ advice. Although the Instrument’s statement that “the King alone shall govern the realm” (article 4) remained unchanged, it was understood that he was to exercise his powers through the ministers, who did most of the actual work of governing.

King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden

During the period when it was in force several important reforms took place without affecting its status. In 1866 the Four Estates were replaced by a bicameral parliament, and in 1876 the office of the Prime Minister of Sweden was introduced. In the early 20th century universal suffrage was introduced and the country became a de facto parliamentary monarchy. In 1970 the parliament was transformed from a bicameral legislature to a unicameral one.

In 1975, it was replaced by a new Instrument of Government, which stripped the king of even nominal political power and made Sweden a de facto crowned republic.