Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten


Prince Gustaf Adolf Oscar Fredrik Arthur Edmund, Duke of Västerbotten was a Swedish prince, who for most of his life was second in the line of succession to the Swedish throne. He was the eldest son of Gustaf VI Adolf, who was crown prince for most of his son's life and ascended the Swedish throne three years after his son's death. The current king, Carl XVI Gustaf, is Prince Gustaf Adolf's son. The prince was killed on 26 January 1947 in an airplane crash at Kastrup Airport, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Early life

Gustaf Adolf was born in Stockholm on 22 April 1906 as the eldest son of the then Prince Gustaf Adolf and his first wife Princess Margaret. He was known by his last given name, Edmund, in the family.
Gustaf Adolf passed studentexamen at Stockholm Palace in 1925 and attended the Cavalry Officer Candidate School in Eksjö the following year and in 1926–1927 the Royal Military Academy. He was then commissioned as fänrik in the Svea Life Guards and the Life Regiment Dragoons and in 1928 in the Life Regiment of Horse. Gustaf Adolf continued his military training and became major in the General Staff Corps, Svea Life Guards, and the Life Regiment of Horse in 1941 In 1943, he became lieutenant colonel in the General Staff Corps, in Svea Life Guards, in Västerbotten Regiment and in the Swedish Cavalry. He was lieutenant colonel at his death.

Interests and royal duties

Gustaf Adolf was an accomplished horse rider. He competed in show jumping at the 1936 Summer Olympics, but failed to finish. He served as president of the Swedish Olympic Committee from 1933 until his death in 1947.
Gustaf Adolf joined the Boy Scouts, and as an adult became a Scoutmaster. He earned his Wood Badge beads at Gilwell Park in England. When the Svenska Scoutrådet formed he served as its first president or Chief Scout. He led the Swedish contingents at the 5th World Scout Jamboree in 1937 and at the World Scout Moot in 1939. He served on the World Scout Committee from May 1937 until his death.
From 1932, Prince Gustaf Adolf was chairman of the Swedish Scout Council and from 1937 honorary chairman of the International Scout Committee. Since 1933, the prince was also chairman of the Central Board of the Swedish Sports Confederation, the Swedish Central Association for Sports Promotion and the Swedish Olympic Committee. Prince Gustaf Adolf was chairman of the Royal Swedish Aero Club from 1937 and the Royal Automobile Club from 1939. He was first honorary member of the Swedish Central Federation for Voluntary Military Training, of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala, of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences, of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, of the Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences and honorary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He was also honorary chairman of the Central Organization of the Swedish Women’s Auxiliary Veterinary Corps.

Politics and World War II

Some recent journalists and historians portray Gustaf Adolf as sympathetic towards the Nazi movement in Germany in the 1930s, a highly debated and criticised opinion. As an official representative of Sweden, Gustaf Adolf met with many Nazi leaders, including Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring. His father-in-law, Charles Edward, the deposed Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was one of the few members of any of the former German princely houses who was a Nazi supporter, but this does not mean Gustaf Adolf was. As the prince very rarely spoke of political matters and left no written evidence of any political sympathies of any kind, the subject remains very much a matter of speculation.
According to journalist and author Staffan Skott in his book Alla dessa Bernadottar, letters and diary entries by influential Swedes of decidedly anti-Nazi persuasion disprove the rumors. Such documents include those of the diplomat Sven Grafström and of the wife of the cabinet minister Gustav Möller, as well as of 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. The newspaper Expressen said that "plausible witnesses who were also strongly pro-democracy" had denied the rumors. The Swedish Royal Court made a statement denying any knowledge of Nazi sympathies.
Gustaf Adolf expressed his support for Finland during the Continuation War of 1941–1944, and would even have liked to participate as a voluntary soldier in the Winter War of 1939–1940, but the King's disapproval prevented this from happening.
Some leading Swedish politicians were adverse to the possibility of seeing Gustaf Adolf inherit the throne, and one prominent Social Democrat publicly uttered that the prince was "a person who must never be King".

Marriage and family

On 19/20 October 1932 in Coburg, he married his second cousin, Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, daughter of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The religious ceremony took place the second day at St. Moritz Church. They had five children:
Prince Gustaf Adolf was killed in an airplane crash in the afternoon of 26 January 1947 at Kastrup Airport, Copenhagen, 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, stalled, and plummeted nose-first to the ground, where it exploded on impact. All 22 people aboard the plane were killed. Also aboard the ill-fated flight was American singer and actress Grace Moore. An investigation found that, short of time, the plane's captain had failed to perform the final pre-flight check list properly and took off not realizing that a gust lock on an elevator was still in place.
At the time of his death, Prince Gustaf Adolf had been second in line to the Swedish throne behind his father, the Crown Prince, 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 in 1973 as King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Honours and arms

Military ranks

;Orders
;Foreign honours
The arms of Prince Gustaf Adolf were those of the Kingdom of Sweden, with a quarter with the arms of Västerbotten in base.

Ancestry