House of Holstein-Gottorp (Swedish line)

The House of Holstein-Gottorp, a cadet branch of the Oldenburg dynasty, ruled Sweden between 1751 and 1818, and Norway from 1814 to 1818.

In 1743, Adolf Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp was elected crown prince of Sweden as a Swedish concession to Russia, a strategy for achieving an acceptable peace after the disastrous war of the same year.

King Gustav III, Adolf Frederick's eldest son, was enthusiastic that through his great-great-grandmother their dynasty descended from the royal House of Vasa.

However, the use of that name ceased when the prince's only surviving child, his daughter Carola, died without children.

The marriage of the future King Gustaf V to Princess Victoria of Baden in 1881 united the ruling House of Bernadotte with a descendant of the House of Holstein-Gottorp since Victoria was a great-granddaughter of the deposed Gustav IV Adolf.