Gustav III of Sweden

Gustav III Of Sweden

Gustav III (Stockholm, 24 January 1746 – Stockholm, 29 March 1792 Note on dates) was King of Sweden from 1771 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Adolph Frederick and Louisa Ulrika of Prussia who was a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia.

A vocal opponent of, as he saw it, abuses by the nobility of a permissiveness established by parliamentarian reforms that had been worked out since the death of Charles XII, he seized power from the government in a coup d'état in 1772, ending the Age of Liberty and venturing into a campaign to restore royal autocracy which was completed by the Union and Security Act in 1789, sweeping away most of the last pretences of Riksdag rule. As a bulwark of enlightened despotism, his expenditure of considerable public funds on cultural ventures contributed to his controversial majesty. Attempts to seize first Norway through Russian aid, then to recapture the Baltic provinces through a war against Russia were unsuccessful, although much of Sweden's former military might was restored. An admirer of Voltaire, Gustav legalized Catholic and Jewish presence in the realm and enacted wide-ranging reforms aimed at economic liberalism, social reform and the abolishment, in many cases, of torture and capital punishment, although the much-praised Freedom of Press Act was severely curtailed through amendments in 1774 and 1792. As a consequence, his assassin, Jacob Johan Anckarström, was only tortured (as a penalty) once convicted after giving a confession voluntarily.

Following the uprising in France towards monarchy, Gustav pursued an alliance of monarchs aimed at crushing the insurrection and reinstate his French counterpart, Louis XVI, offering Swedish contributions as well as his leadership. He was assassinated by a conspiracy of noblemen claiming only to commit tyrannicide, although later research has revealed more personal motives.

A patron of the arts and benefactor of arts and literature, Gustav founded several academies, among them the Swedish Academy, created a National Costume and had the Royal Swedish Opera built. In 1772 he founded the Royal Order of Vasa to acknowledge and reward those Swedes who had helped to advance process in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce.