After Carl Gyllenheim's passing in 1650, he was raised by Samuel Enander, Bishop of Linköping, and by 1660, after the death of king Charles X Gustav, he also found himself under protection by the Queen dowager Hedwig Eleonora, whom became his guardian, with her stating that it was made "...to the heartfelt remembrance of his [past] lord".

[1][2] Erik Lindschöld led his studies and in 1659–1668 accompanied him on a journey through Germany, the Netherlands, England, France and Italy.

During the Scanian War of 1675–79, Gustaf Carlson participated with distinction in the Battle of Lund and at Rügen in 1678, where he was head of an enlisted regiment.

There he became a lieutenant general and married in 1685 at Ameland, he later accompanied William of Orange on his voyage to England, during the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and there fought by his side in the Williamite War in Ireland during 1690 as a close confidant of the king.

He later went on to spend the remainder of his life in the Dutch province of Friesland, where he died without any surviving children in 1708 at his castle in Terherne, Boarnsterhim.