Gustav IV Adolf or
Gustav IV Adolph (1 November 1778 – 7 February 1837) was
King of Sweden from 1792 until his abdication in 1809. He was the son of
Gustav III of Sweden and his queen consort
Sophia Magdalena, eldest daughter of
Frederick V of Denmark and his first wife
Louise of Great Britain. He was the last Swedish ruler of
Finland, the occupation of which by
Russian Czar
Alexander I in 1808-09 was the immediate cause of his violent downfall. After an army revolt, the king was seized by officers and forced to relinquish the throne on behalf of his family on March 29, the anniversary of his father's death (due to gunshot wound, in 1792). The
Instrument of Government subsequently written was adopted on June 6, the current
National Day of Sweden, and was in effect until replaced in 1974. The crown (now with strictly limited powers) passed to his childless uncle,
Charles XIII, whose want of heirs set into motion an intense quest for a successor who was found the following year in the person of
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, who assumed the throne in 1818, commencing the present
House of Bernadotte.