Prince Frederick Adolf of Sweden

Prince Fredrick Adolf (July 18 1750 - December 12 1803 Montepllier, France), was a Swedish Prince, youngest son of King Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, a sister Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. He was given the title Duke of Östergötland.

Biography

The Duke was described as "The most beautiful Prince in Europe". He was sensitive, passive and spoiled by his mother. He and his sister, Sophia Albertina, was their mother's favourites and also devoted to each other; during family conflicts, him and his sister was on their mother's side. As a child, he had a weak health and a fierce temperament. His education became somewhat lacking. He was given the title colonel at twelve and general major at eighteen, but this was just titles. He took part in the revolution 1772 but soon became a part of the oposition against his brother.

His sister-in-law, Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp, describes him as beautiful, with expressive eyes, an easy going temper and very handsome when he dresses properly, though often badly dressed in his private life, and she adds that he would have been a greater social success, if he did not say so many suggestive things and had such a filthy mouth, which he got because he had spent too much time with men, and had such a weakness for women and sex.

He had no task in his life other than the ceremonial, and spent his life wasting money and involving himself in love affairs, among them with the actress Euphrosyne Löf, sister of the great prima donna Fredrique Löwen, and Countess Sophie von Fersen, sister of Axel von Fersen, the lover of Marie Antoinette.

Prince Fredrick Adolf was never married, and the ceremonial duties of his consort were performed by his sister Sophia Albertina, but he lived for several years, from 1778 to 1795, with the dancer Sophie Hagman and had a daughter, Sophia Frederica, with her. He died in Montpellier in France in 1803.

Ancestry

ahnentafel-compact5
style=font-size: 90%; line-height: 110%;
border=1
boxstyle=padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0;
boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
1= 1. Prince Frederick Adolf of Sweden
2= 2. Adolf Frederick of Sweden
3= 3. Louisa Ulrika of Prussia
4= 4. Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin
5= 5. Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach
6= 6. Frederick William I of Prussia
7= 7. Sophia Dorothea of Hanover
8= 8. Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
9= 9. Frederikke Amalie of Denmark
10= 10. Frederick VII, Margrave of Baden-Durlach
11= 11. Auguste Marie of Holstein-Gottorp
12= 12. Frederick I of Prussia
13= 13. Sophia Charlotte of Hanover
14= 14. George I of Great Britain
15= 15. Sophia Dorothea of Celle
16= 16. Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
17= 17. Marie Elisabeth of Saxony
18= 18. Frederick III of Denmark
19= 19. Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg
20= 20. Friedrich VI, Margrave of Baden-Durlach
21= 21. Christine Magdalen of Zweibrücken
22= 22. Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (= 16)
23= 23. Marie Elisabeth of Saxony (= 17)
24= 24. Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg
25= 25. Louise Henriette of Orange-Nassau
26= 26. Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover
27= 27. Sophia, Countess Palatine of Simmern
28= 28. Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover (= 26)
29= 29. Sophia, Countess Palatine of Simmern (= 27)
30= 30. George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
31= 31. Eleonore d'Esmier d'Olbreuse

References

* Invgar Andersson, "Gustavianskt".
* Herman Linqvist, "Historien om Sverige, Gustavs dagar".