Gustavians

Prominent Gustavians in this early stage included Jacob Magnus Sprengtporten and Johan Christopher Toll, the two leaders of the coup besides Gustav himself.

[1][2] Ironically, Armfelt's uncle Carl Gustaf Armfeldt the Younger [sv] was a vehement opponent of the king, and was a leading member of the 1788 Anjala Conspiracy against him.

[5] Another prominent advisor to the young king was the Marshal of the Realm, Axel von Fersen the Younger, who had spent much of Gustav III's reign in France, at the court of Louis XVI, but had been forced to return to Sweden by the French Revolution.

In March 1809, a Swedish army commanded by Georg Adlersparre mutinied, triggering the Coup of 1809, in which Gustav Adolf was forced to abdicate and sent into exile, Duke Charles was declared king, and constitutional monarchy was restored by the Instrument of Government (1809).

In this they were supported by monarchists who were upset with the idea of interfering with the principle of hereditary succession, including King Charles himself and his wife Queen Charlotte.

However, in May he suddenly dropped dead from a stroke, which led to rumours that he had been poisoned by the Gustavians, and during his funeral the unfortunate Fersen was publicly lynched by an enraged mob.

The Gustavians campaigned vigorously on behalf of Prince Gustav, but in the end the decision went against them again, this time in favour of the French Marshal of the Empire Jean Baptiste Bernadotte.

However, Bernadotte quickly managed to win over most of the Gustavians, in part because he shared their conservative views,[1][8] and by the time he ascended the throne in 1818 (as King Charles XIV John), the few remaining irreconcilables had faded into political irrelevance.