Prince Frederick Adolf, Duke of Östergötland

Prince Fredrick Adolf Template:Lang-sv Template:Lang-de (18 July 1750 Drottningholm - 12 December 1803 Montpellier, France), was a Swedish Prince, youngest son of King Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, a sister Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. He was given the title Duke of Östergötland.

Biography

The Duke was described as "The most beautiful Prince in Europe". He is descried as sensitive, passive and spoiled by his mother. He and his sister, Sophia Albertina, was their mother's favourites and also devoted to each other; during family conflicts, such as the famous succession scandal regarding the birth of the crown prince (1778), him and his sister was on their mother's side. As a child, he had a weak health and a fierce temperament. His education became somewhat lacking. He was given the title colonel at twelve and general major at eighteen. He took part in the revolution of 1772 and was given the title of duke by his brother as a recognition, but he soon became a part of the opposition against his brother.

His sister-in-law, Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp, describes him as beautiful, with expressive eyes, an easy going temper, and very handsome when he dresses properly, though often badly dressed in his private life; and she adds, that he would have been a greater social success, if he did not say so many suggestive things and had such a filthy mouth, which he got because he had spent too much time with men, and had such a weakness for women and sex.

He had no task in his life other than the ceremonial, and spent his life wasting money and involving himself in love affairs, among them with the actress Euphrosyne Löf, sister of the great prima donna Fredrique Löwen, and Countess Sophie von Fersen, daughter of Axel von Fersen the Elder and sister of Axel von Fersen the Younger, the alleged lover of Marie Antoinette. He did, however, service in the Russo-Swedish War in Finland in 1788.

Prince Fredrick Adolf was never married, and the ceremonial duties of his consort were performed by his sister Sophia Albertina, but he lived for several years, from 1778 to 1795, with the dancer Sophie Hagman and had a daughter, Sophia Frederica, with her.

He died in Montpellier in France in 1803.