Gustaf
Crown Prince of Sweden
Gustaf (Oscar Gustaf Adolf; 16 June 1858 – 29 October 1950) was King of Sweden from 8 December 1907 until his death in 1950. He was the eldest son of King Oscar II of Sweden and Sophia of Nassau, a half-sister of Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Reigning from the death of his father Oscar II in 1907 to his own death nearly 43 years later, he holds the record of being the oldest monarch of Sweden with the third-longest reign after Magnus IV (1319–1364) and Carl XVI Gustaf (1973–present). He was also the last Swedish monarch to exercise his royal prerogatives, which largely died with him, although they were formally abolished only with the remaking of the Swedish constitution in 1974. He was the first Swedish king since the High Middle Ages not to have a coronation and so never wore the king's crown, a practice that has continued ever since. Gustaf V was born on 16 June 1858 in Drottningholm Palace in Ekerö, Stockholm County, the son of Prince Oscar, Duke of Östergötland and Princess Sofia of Nassau. His father was a younger son of the reigning king, Oscar I, and as the king's eldest son, Crown Prince Charles had no surviving sons, it could be expected that the new-born prince would one day inherit the Swedish throne. At birth he was created Duke of Värmland, and on 12 July he was baptised Oscar Gustaf Adolf at the Royal Chapel of the Stockholm Palace by the Archbishop of Uppsala, Henrik Reuterdahl. The following year, his brother Prince Oscar was born, followed by
Prince Carl in 1861, and Prince Eugen in 1865. The family lived in the Arvfurstens palats (Palace of the Hereditary Prince), an 18th-century palace located at Gustav Adolfs torg in central Stockholm, and the summers were spent at Sofiero Castle near Helsingborg in Scania, which the father acquired in 1864. During his early years, the prince was considered to have a weak body constitution, and as a consequence he was treated with electrotherapy on May 10, 1871. On 18 September 1872 his uncle King Charles XV died, and Gustaf's father ascended the throne as King Oscar II. Upon his father's accession to the throne, Gustaf became crown prince of both Sweden and Norway at the age of 14. The new king and queen and their children now moved into the large Stockholm Palace, and the crown prince's schooling at the Beskowska School was interrupted, as he was now to receive his education as heir to the throne at the palace. On 20 September 1881 in Karlsruhe, Germany, he married Princess Victoria of Baden, the only daughter of Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden and Princess Louise of Prussia.
The Crown Prince's Hussar Regiment (Swedish: Kronprinsens husarregemente), designated K 7, was a Swedish Army cavalry regiment located in the province of Scania that traced its origins back to the 18th century. It had a number of names over its history, most famously Mörner's Hussar Regiment (Mörnerska husarregementet) during the Napoleonic Wars. It was disbanded in 1927. The regiment has its origin in a hussar corps raised in 1757. The following year, the corps was organized into Svenska husarregementet with Georg Gustaf Wrangel as commander. The regiment was split in two in 1762 forming Blå and Gula husarregementet (the Blue and Yellow regiments). These two were merged back to one in 1766 with the name Husarregementet. The regiment changed name quite a few times during the years, being renamed Mörnerska husarregementet in 1801, Cederströmska husarregementet in 1816 and in 1822, when Crown Prince Oscar (the later King Oscar I) became colonel in the regiment, it was
renamed Kronprinsens husarregemente. For some months in 1859 and 1860 it was named Konungens värvade husarregemente before being renamed to Husarregimente Konung Karl XV. And finally, as the crown prince Gustaf VI Adolf was born in 1882 the regiment was renamed back to Kronprinsens husarregemente. Kronprinsens husarregemente was given the designation K 7 (7th Cavalry Regiment) after a general order in 1816. It was a very special regiment because of two things. Firstly, it was the only unit in the Swedish Army without the prefix "Royal" (Kungliga), as it was the Crown Prince's, secondly, it was the largest (ten squadrons) cavalry regiment garrisoned in one town, in the world.
The House of Bernadotte is the royal family of Sweden, founded there in 1818 by King Charles XIV John of Sweden. It was also the royal family of Norway between 1818 and 1905. Its founder was born in Pau in southern France as Jean Bernadotte. Bernadotte, who had been made a General of Division and Minister of War for his service in the French Army during the French Revolution, and Marshal of the French Empire and Prince of Ponte Corvo under Napoleon, was adopted by the elderly King Charles XIII of Sweden, who had no other heir and whose Holstein-Gottorp branch of the House of Oldenburg thus was soon to be extinct on the Swedish throne. The current king of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, is a direct descendant of Charles XIV John.
Royal Standard of the King. A royal resolution of 20 June 1844, introduced new flags and heraldry to denote the equal status of the two kingdoms within the union. The new union flags were well received by the Norwegians, who had demanded their own military ensign since the union was formed. In Sweden, however, the new union mark in particular became quite unpopular and was contemptuously nicknamed the Sillsallaten (Swedish) or Sildesalaten (Norwegian) after a colorful dish of pickled herring, decorated with red beets and apples in a radial pattern. It is believed that the name was first used in a speech by Lord Brakel in the Swedish House of Lords in Stockholm. The king and queen use a royal flag with the greater national coat of arms.
Awards: Sash and star of the Royal Order of the Seraphim (Kungliga Serafimerorden), Stars of the Royal Order of the Sword (Kungliga Svärdsorden), the Royal Order of the Polar Star (Kungliga Nordstjärneorden) and the Royal Order of Charles XIII (Kungliga Carl XIII:s orden).
