Gustaf V

Gustaf V (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 his own great-grandson, 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's early reign saw the rise of parliamentary rule in Sweden although the leadup to World War I induced his dismissal of Liberal Prime Minister Karl Staaff in 1914, replacing him with his own figurehead, Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, the father of Dag Hammarskjöld, for most of the war. However, after the Liberals and Social Democrats secured a parliamentary majority under Staaff's successor, Nils Edén, he allowed Edén to form a new government which de facto stripped the monarchy of virtually all powers and enacted universal and equal suffrage, including for women, by 1919. Bowing to the principles of parliamentary democracy, he remained a popular figurehead for the remaining 31 years of his rule, although not completely without influence. Gustaf V had pro-German and anti-Communist stances which were outwardly expressed during World War I and the Russian Civil War. During World War II, he allegedly urged Per Albin Hansson's coalition government to accept requests from Nazi Germany for logistics support, arguing that refusing might provoke an invasion. His intervention remains controversial.

An avid hunter and sportsman, Gustaf presided over the 1912 Olympic Games and chaired the Swedish Association of Sports from 1897 to 1907. Most notably, he represented Sweden (under the alias of Mr G.) as a competitive tennis player, keeping up competitive tennis until his eighties, when his eyesight deteriorated rapidly. He was succeeded by his son, Gustaf VI Adolf.

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 10 May 1871.

The three eldest princes began their schooling at the newly founded Beskowska School in Östermalm in Stockholm in October 1869. Among the prince's classmates at the school was Hjalmar Branting, who went on to become leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and three times Prime Minister of Sweden.

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.