Gustav VI 1882-1973
King of Sweden

He was born in Stockholm, the son and successor of Gustav V, and became a respected scholar and archaeologist and an authority on Chinese art. He married (1905) Princess Margaret (1882-1920), daughter of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, and granddaughter of Queen Victoria, by whom he had four sons and a daughter, Ingrid, who married King Frederik IX of Denmark. In 1923 he married Lady Louise Mountbatten (1889-1965), sister of Earl Mountbatten of Burma. On Gustav's accession (1950) Lady Louise became the first British-born queen in Swedish history. A new constitution was under preparation during his reign, and the king worked to transform the Crown into a democratic monarchy, which helped to preserve it against political demands for a republic. As his eldest son, Gustav Adolf (1906-47), was killed in an air crash, he was succeeded by his grandson, Carl XVI Gustaf.