Marriage
By proxy in Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen, on 1 October 1766 and in person in Stockholm on 4 November 1766, Gustav married Princess Sophia Magdalena, daughter of King Frederick V of Denmark. The match was not a happy one, owing partly to an incompatibility of temper; but still more to the interference of the jealous Queen Mother. The marriage produced two children: Crown Prince Gustav Adolf (1778–1837), and Prince Carl Gustav, Duke of Småland (Drottningholm, 25 August 1782 – Stockholm, 23 March 1783). For the consummation of the marriage, the king requested the assistance of Adolf Munck, reportedly because of anatomical problems which both spouses possessed. Gustav's mother supported rumors that he was not the father of his first son and heir. It was rumored at the time that Gustav indulged in homosexuality. The close personal relationships which 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 implied as much in a diary. Professor Erik Lönnroth of the Swedish Academy has concluded that there is no factual basis for the assumption that Gustav III was homosexual.
Read more about this topic: Gustav III Of Sweden
Famous quotes containing the word marriage:
“Thrift, thrift, Horatio, the funeral baked meats
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Worst, when this sensualism intrudes into the education of young women, and withers the hope and affection of human nature, by teaching that marriage signifies nothing but a housewife’s thrift, and that woman’s life has no other aim.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)