Gustav IV Adolf or Gustav IV Adolph (1 November 1778 – 7 February 1837) was King of Sweden from 1792 until his abdication in 1809. He was the son of Gustav III of Sweden and his queen consort Sophia Magdalena, eldest daughter of Frederick V of Denmark and his first wife Louise of Great Britain. He was the last Swedish ruler of Finland, the occupation of which by Russian Czar Alexander I
in 1808-09 was the immediate cause of his violent downfall. After an
army revolt, the king was seized by officers and forced to relinquish
the throne on behalf of his family on March 29; the same date as his
father's death (due to gunshot wound, in 1792). The Instrument of Government subsequently written was adapted on June 6, the current National Holiday of Sweden, and was in effect until replaced 1974. The crown (now with strictly limited powers) passed to his childless uncle, Charles XIII, whose want of heirs set into motion an intense quest for a successor who was found the following year in the person of Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, who assumed the throne in 1818, commencing the present House of Bernadotte.
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Gustav IV 's arrest
Coup d'état and abdication
Gustav Adolf's inept and erratic leadership in diplomacy and war
precipitated his deposition through a conspiracy of army officers.
On 7 March 1809, lieutenant-colonel Georg Adlersparre, commander of a part of the so-called western army stationed in Värmland, triggered the revolution by raising the flag of rebellion in Karlstad
and starting to march upon Stockholm. To prevent the King from joining
loyal troops in Scania, on 13 March 1809 seven of the conspirators led
by Carl Johan Adlercreutz broke into the royal apartments in the palace, seized the king, and imprisoned him and his family in Gripsholm
castle; the king's uncle, Duke Charles (Karl), was thereupon persuaded
to accept the leadership of a provisional government, which was
proclaimed the same day; and a diet, hastily summoned, solemnly approved
of the revolution.
On 29 March Gustav IV Adolf, to save the crown for his son, voluntarily abdicated; but on 10 May the Riksdag of the Estates, dominated by the army,
declared that not merely Gustav but his whole family had forfeited the
throne, perhaps an excuse to exclude his family from succession based on
the rumours of his illegitimacy. A more likely cause, however, is that
the revolutionaries feared that Gustav's son, if he inherited the
throne, would avenge his father's deposition when he came of age. On 5
June, Duke Charles (Gustav's uncle) was proclaimed king under the name
of Charles XIII, after accepting a new liberal constitution, which was ratified by the diet the next day. In December, Gustav and his family were transported to Germany. In 1812, he divorced his wife.
In exile Gustav used several titles, Count Gottorp, Duke of Holstein-Eutin, and finally settled at St. Gallen in Switzerland
where he lived in a small hotel in great loneliness and indigence,
under the name of Colonel Gustafsson. It was there that he suffered a
stroke and died. At the suggestion of King Oscar II of Sweden his body was finally brought to Sweden and interred in the Riddarholmskyrkan.
Coat of Arms of King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden and Finland
in Wikipédia
