Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten

Prince Gustaf Adolf
Duke of Västerbotten
Spouse	Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Issue
Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler Princess Birgitta of Sweden Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
Full name
Gustaf Adolf Oscar Fredrik Arthur Edmund
House	House of Bernadotte
Father	Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden
Mother	Princess Margaret of Connaught
Born	22 April 1906(1906-04-22) Stockholm Palace, Stockholm, Sweden
Died	26 January 1947(1947-01-26) (aged 40) Kastrup Airfield, Copenhagen, Denmark

Prince Gustaf Adolf Oscar Fredrik Arthur Edmund, Duke of Västerbotten (Stockholm, 22 April 1906 – Kastrup Airfield, Copenhagen, 26 January 1947) was Duke of West Bothnia and the eldest son of Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden and his first wife Princess Margaret of Connaught. His mother was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria since she was the daughter of HRH Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, and his wife, Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia.

Gustaf Adolf was the father of the current king, Carl XVI Gustaf.

Biography

Politics and World War II

Prince Gustaf Adolf, Hermann Göring and King Gustaf V of Sweden in Berlin 1939

Some recent journalists and historians portray Gustaf Adolf as sympathetic towards the Nazi movement in Germany in the 1930s, an opinion which has been highly debated and criticized. As an official representative of Sweden, Gustaf Adolf met with many Nazi leaders, including Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring (the latter had lived in Sweden and had many friends among the Swedish upper class). As the prince very rarely spoke of political matters and left no written evidence of any political sympathies of any kind, the subject is very much a matter of speculation.

Styles of Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden
Reference style	His Royal Highness
Spoken style	Your Royal Highness
Alternative style	Sir

These rumours however made him unpopular among many Swedes during his lifetime. The public called him tyskprinsen (the German prince)^[who?]. However, according to journalist and author Staffan Skott in his book Alla dessa Bernadottar (All these Bernadottes^[1]), these rumors are disproved by letters and diary entries by influential Swedes of decidedly anti-Nazi persuasion, including the diplomat Sven Grafström and the wife of a government minister Gustav Möller, as well as the stepson of Hermann Göring who said that a visit by the prince to Göring's home was a complete failure and that Göring and Gustaf Adolf did not get along well. Also, the anti-Nazi newspaper Expressen said that the rumors had been denied by "plausible witnesses who were also strongly pro-democracy". The Swedish Royal Court also has made a statement denying any knowledge of Nazi sympathies.

Scouting

Gustaf Adolf was a Boy Scout and as an adult became a Scoutmaster. He earned his Wood Badge beads at Gilwell Park in England. When the Svenska Scoutrådet was formed he served as its first president or Chief Scout. He was leader of the Swedish contingent at the 5th World Scout Jamboree in 1937 and to the World Scout Moot in 1939. He served on the World Scout Committee from May 1937 until his death.^[2][3]

Military career

Gustaf Adolf reached the substantive rank of Lieutenant Colonel during the 1940s.

Marriage and family

On October 19/October 20, 1932, he married in Coburg his second cousin, Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, daughter of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Princess Sibylla was a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, a granddaughter of HRH Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. They had five children:

Name	Birth	Death	Notes
Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler	31 October 1934 (1934-10-31) (age 77)		married John Kenneth Ambler, had issue.
HRH Princess Birgitta of Sweden	31 January 1937 (1937-01-31) (age 74)		married Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern, had issue.
Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld	2 June 1938 (1938-06-02) (age 73)		married Baron Nils-August Otto Carl Niclas Silfverschiöld, had issue.
Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson	3 August 1943 (1943-08-03) (age 68)		married Tord Gösta Magnuson, had issue.
HM King Carl XVI Gustaf	30 April 1946 (1946-04-30) (age 65)		married Silvia Sommerlath, had issue.

Death

See also Copenhagen Airport—Incidents and accidents.

Gustaf Adolf's and Sibylla's grave on Karlsborg Island in Solna, Sweden.

Prince Gustaf Adolf was killed in an airplane crash on the afternoon of 26 January 1947, at the Kastrup Airport, Kastrup, Denmark. The prince, along with two companions, was returning to Stockholm from a hunting trip and visit to Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. The delayed KLM flight from Amsterdam had landed at Copenhagen for a routine stop before continuing to Stockholm. Soon after the Douglas DC-3 aircraft took off, it climbed to an altitude of about 50 meters (150 ft), stalled, and plummeted nose-first to the ground, where it exploded on impact. All 22 people aboard the plane (16 passengers and six crew members) were killed. Also aboard the ill-fated flight was American singer and actress Grace Moore. The investigation showed that the crash had been caused by a forgotten gust lock to the elevator. Short of time, the captain had failed to perform the checklist properly and took off not realizing the lock was still in place.

At the time of his death, Prince Gustaf Adolf had been second in line (Hereditary Prince) to the Swedish throne behind his father, who in 1950 became King Gustaf VI Adolf. The younger Gustaf Adolf was succeeded as second in line by his only son, Carl Gustaf, who would later succeed his grandfather as King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Arms

The arms of Prince Carl Gustaf were those of the Kingdom of Sweden, with a quarter with the arms of Vasterbotten in base.

Ancestry

References

1. ^ Albert Bonniers press
2. ^ Kroonenberg, Piet J. (1998). The Undaunted- The Survival and Revival of Scouting in Central and Eastern Europe. Geneva: Oriole International Publications. pp. 31. ISBN 2880520037. 
3. ^ Kroonenberg, Piet J. (2003). The Undaunted II–The Survival and Revival of Scouting in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. Las Vegas: Las Vegas International Scouting Museum. pp. 77. ISBN 097464790X. 

External links

• The Swedish Royal Court