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Gustav III

Gustav III
Gustavo-III,-Rey-de-Suecia 1777-by-Roslin.JPG
Gustav III painted in 1777 by Alexander Roslin
King of Sweden
Reign 12 February 1771 – 29 March 1792
Coronation 29 May 1772
Predecessor Adolf Frederick
Successor Gustav IV Adolf
Born 24 January 1746
, Sweden
Died 29 March 1792(1792-03-29) (aged 46)
, Stockholm
Burial 13 April 1792
Riddarholmen Church, Stockholm
Spouse Sophia Magdalena of Denmark
Issue
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Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden
Prince Carl Gustav, Duke of Småland
House Holstein-Gottorp
Father Adolf Frederick of Sweden
Mother Louisa Ulrika of Prussia
Religion Lutheran
Styles of
Gustav III of Sweden
Royal Monogram of King Gustaf III of Sweden.svg
Reference style His Majesty
Spoken style Your Majesty
Alternative style Ers Majestät

Gustav III (24 January [O.S. 13 January] 1746 – 29 March 1792 ) was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of King Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louise Ulrika (a sister of King Frederick the Great of Prussia), and a first cousin of Empress Catherine the Great of Russia by reason of their common descent from Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin, and his wife Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach.

Gustav was a vocal opponent of what he saw as the abuse of political privileges seized by the nobility since the death of King Charles XII. Seizing power from the government in a coup d'état in 1772 that ended the Age of Liberty, he initiated a campaign to restore royal which was completed by the Union and Security Act of 1789, which swept away most of the powers once exercised by the Swedish Riksdag (parliament). A bulwark of enlightened despotism, Gustav 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.


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Wikipedia

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