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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 Adolph Frederick and Queen Louise Ulrika, who was a sister of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia.
He was a vocal opponent of what he saw as 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. This was completed by the Union and Security
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 Adolph Frederick and Queen Louise Ulrika, who was a sister of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia.
He was a vocal opponent of what he saw as 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. This 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, he spent considerable public funds on cultural ventures: this contributed among his critics to controversy about his reign. Attempts to seize Norway with Russian assistance, and then to recapture the Baltic provinces by 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 abolition, in many cases, of torture and capital punishment, although the much-praised Freedom of the Press Act (1766) was severely curtailed by amendments in 1774 and 1792, which effectively extinguished all independent media.
Following the French Revolution, Gustav pursued an alliance of monarchs aimed at crushing the insurrection and reinstating his French counterpart, Louis XVI, offering Swedish assistance to the royal cause in France under his leadership. He was mortally wounded by a gunshot in the lower back during a masquerade ball, as part of a noblist-parliamentary coup attempt, but managed to assume command and quell the uprising before succumbing to septicemia 13 days later, a period during which he received apologies from many of his political enemies. Only Anckarström, the actual gunman, suffered death as result: and, according to the King's criminal policy, was only tortured after confessing voluntarily and being duly convicted. Gustav's immense powers were placed in the hands of a regency under his brother, Duke Carl until his son Gustav IV Adolf assumed the throne in 1796. The Gustavian autocracy hence survived until 1809, when it perished in another coup.
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 contributed to advances in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce.
In 1782 Gustav III was the first neutral head of state in the world to recognize the United States during its war for independence from Great Britain.
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