Prince Gustav Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten

Gustav Adolf Prince of Sweden Duke of Westrobothnia

Swedish Royalty   House of Bernadotte Charles XIV John Children    Oscar I Oscar I Children    Charles XV    Gustaf, Duke of Upland    Oscar II    Princess Eugenie    August, Duke of Dalarna Charles XV Children    Lovisa, Queen of Denmark    Carl Oscar, Duke of Södermanland Oscar II Children    Gustaf V    Oscar, Duke of Gotland    Eugén, Duke of Närke    Carl, Duke of Västergötland Grandchildren    Princess Margaretha    Märtha, Crown Princess of Norway    Astrid, Queen of Belgium    Carl, Duke of Östergötland Gustaf V Children    Gustaf VI Adolf    Wilhelm, Duke of Södermanland    Erik, Duke of Västmanland Gustaf VI Adolf Children    Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten    Sigvard, Duke of Uppland    Ingrid, Queen of Denmark    Bertil, Duke of Halland    Carl Johan, Count af Wisborg Grandchildren    Princess Margaretha    Princess Birgitta    Princess Désirée    Princess Christina    Carl XVI Gustaf Carl XVI Gustaf Children    Crown Princess Victoria    Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland    Madeleine, Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland

Gustav Adolf, Gustav Adolf Oscar Fredrik Arthur Edmund (April 22, 1906–January 26, 1947), Prince of Sweden, Duke of Västerbotten, was the eldest son of Gustav 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 Luise Margarete of Prussia.

Marriage and family

On October 19, 1932 he married his second cousin, Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, daughter of Carl Eduard, 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:

1. Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler (1934-)
2. HRH Princess Birgitta (1937-)
3. Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld(1938-)
4. Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson (1943-)
5. HM King Carl XVI Gustav (1946-)

Politics and World War II

Some recent journalists and historians^{[attribution needed]} portray Gustav Adolf as sympathetic towards the Nazi movement in Germany in the 1930s, an opinion which has been highly debated and criticized. It is a fact that Gustav Adolf as an official representative of Sweden 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. These rumours however made him unpopular among many Swedes during his life time. The public called him tyskprinsen (the German prince) . However, according to the journalist and author Staffan Skott in his book Alla dessa Bernadottar (All these Bernadottes; Albert Bonniers press), 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 Gustav 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. [1]

Prince Gustav Adolf, Hermann Göring and King Gustav V in Berlin 1939

Death

Prince Gustav Adolf was killed in a plane crash on the afternoon of January 26, 1947 at Kastrup, Denmark. The prince, along with two companions, was returning to Stockholm from a hunting trip and visit to Crown 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 feet), 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 never performed his checklist properly and took off not realizing the lock was still in place. At the time of his death, Prince Gustav Adolf had been second in line to the Swedish throne behind his father, who in 1950 became King Gustav VI Adolf.

Ancestry