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Gustaf V of Sweden

Gustav V (Oscar Gustav Adolf) (16 June 1858 – 29 October 1950) was King of Sweden from 1907 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Oscar II of Sweden and Sophia of Nassau, a half-sister of Adolphe I, Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

Early life

Gustav V was born in Drottningholm Palace and at birth was created Duke of Värmland. On December 8, 1907 he succeeded his father on the Swedish throne, which had been separated from the Norwegian throne two years earlier.

He married Princess Victoria of Baden on September 20, 1881. She was the granddaughter of Sofia of Sweden, and her marriage to Gustav V united by a real blood link (and not only so-called adoption) the reigning Bernadotte dynasty with the former royal house of Holstein-Gottorp.

Public life

Gustav V was the last Swedish king to intervene directly in the politics of the country, in 1914 on the disputes over defence budgets. He was a conservative man, who did not approve of the democratic movement and the demands for workers' rights. Gustav V was also the last Swedish king to be Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces (between 1907 and 1939).

Gustav V was considered to have German sympathies during World War I. His political stance during WWI was highly influenced by his domineering wife, who felt a strong connection to her German homeland. On the 18th December 1914 he sponsored a meeting with the other two kings of Scandinavia to demonstrate unity within and between the Scandinavian countries. Another of Gustav V's objectives with this, three-king conference was to dispel suspicions that he wanted to bring Sweden into the war on Germany's side.

Both the king and his grandson Prince Gustav Adolf, had socialized with certain Nazi leaders before World War II, though arguably for diplomatic purposes. Gustav V attempted to convince Hitler during a visit to Berlin to soften his persecution of the Jews, according to historian Jörgen Weibull. (Weibull, Bernadottes on Sweden's Throne) He was also noted for appealing to the leader of Hungary to save its Jews "in the name of humanity." At the behest of American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gustav V appealed to Hitler for peace negotiations in 1938, "in the interest of peace".

When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in October 1941, Gustav V tried to write a private letter to Hitler thanking him for taking care of the "Bolshevik pest" and congratulating him on his "already achieved victories".(Dagens Nyheter 070729) He was stopped from doing so by the prime minister Hansson . Nevertheless the king sent the message to Hitler (through a telegram by the German embassy in Stockholm) behind the back of the government.

According to Prime Minister Hansson the king had, during a private conversation, threatened to abdicate if the government did not approve of the German request for permission to transfer one armed division (Engelbrecht mountain ranger division) through Swedish territory from northern Norway to northern Finland in June 1941. The accuracy of this claim is debated, and the king's stated intention (if he did in fact make this threat) was to avoid conflict with Germany, according to Hansson (Wahlbäck, Regeringen och kriget. Ur statsrådens dagböcker 1939-41). According to Ernst Wigforss, both Gustav V and Prince Gustav Adolf attempted to persuade the Swedish government to allow the Allies to transport troops through Sweden, though this was rejected by the government because it was felt it would cause retributions from Germany.

Personal life

Gustav V was tall and thin. He wore pince-nez eyeglasses and sported a pointed goatee and mustache for most of his teen years. The king was accused of being homosexual by a man named Kurt Haijby and the royal court paid Haijby a substantial sum of money for his silence. This came to public notice through the Haijby affair.

Gustav V was a devoted tennis player, appearing under the pseudonym Mr G. As a player and promoter of the sport, he was elected in to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1980. The king learned the sport during a visit in Britain in 1876 and founded Sweden's first tennis club on his return home. In 1936 he founded the King's Club. During his reign, Gustav was often seen playing on the Riviera. On a visit to Berlin, Gustav went straight from a meeting with Hitler to a tennis match with the Jewish player Daniel Prenn. During World War II, he interceded to obtain better treatment for Davis Cup stars Jean Borotra of France and Gottfried von Cramm of Germany, who had been imprisoned by the German government.

The Haijby affair

A former restaurateur, Kurt Haijby, claimed to have been a lover of the king between 1912 and 1932. During Gustaf's life, Haijby was paid 170,000 Swedish crowns by the court of Sweden to maintain his silence, which would appear to substantiate his claim. In 1938 Haijby was arrested for paedophilia and placed in an asylum at Beckomberga. Following this, the court offered him a further 400 crowns a month if he left the country. He accepted this deal. However, Haijby breached the agreement, returning to Sweden in 1940 and writing a book about his life with the king. The entire printing was bought by the court and destroyed.

After Gustaf's death, papers detailing Haijby's complaint to the Attorney General of Sweden about his enforced detention in the asylum were smuggled out of the Attorney General's office by writer Vilhelm Moberg. As a consequence, the details of his story became public and the court was forced to charge Haijby for acts of blackmail. These incidents took place against a background of scandals known as the Kejne affair, which involved homosexuality amongst government officials.

A contemporary biography of Gustaf V by Stig Hadenius, while mentioning the Haijby affair, does not address the king's sexual orientation or the exact relationship between him and Hajiby. Haijby was sentenced to six years' hard labor; he committed suicide shortly after his release from prison. A book published in 2008 discloses that recently declassified Swedish documents supports Haijby's claims and go much farther than Moberg.

Issue

Name	Birth	Death	Notes
King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden	November 11 1882	September 15 1973	married 1) Princess Margaret of Connaught (1882-1920), had issue (four sons, one daughter) , married 2) Lady Louise Mountbatten (1889-1965), had issue (a stillborn daughter)
Prince Vilhelm of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland	June 17 1884	June 5, 1965	married Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia (1890-1958), had issue
Prince Erik of Sweden, Duke of Västmanland	April 20, 1889	September 20,1918	died unmarried of the Spanish Flu, no issue