ADOLF FREDERICK

born May 14, 1710, Gottorp, Schleswig died Feb. 12, 1771, Stockholm, Swed. German Adolf Friedrich, Swedish Adolf Fredrik king of Sweden from 1751 to 1771. He was the son of Christian Augustus (1673-1726), Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, and of Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach. While Adolf Frederick was bishop of Lbeck (1727-50), he administered Holstein-Kiel (1739-45) during the minority of Duke Charles Peter Ulrich (afterward Peter III of Russia). In 1743 he was elected heir to the throne of Sweden by the "Hat" faction, which favoured a foreign policy that would regain Swedish hegemony in the Baltic. The Hats hoped by their choice to obtain better conditions of peace from the Russian empress Elizabeth, who was favourable to the house of Gottorp. He thus succeeded to the throne after the death of Frederick I (1751). Most of the power during the new king's reign rested in the Riksdag (parliament). Twice he tried to free himself of its control: in his first attempt (1756) he nearly lost his throne, but in his second (1768-69)-with the assistance of his son, Crown Prince Gustav-he brought about the overthrow of the generally pro-Russian and pro-Prussian "Cap" Party in the Riksdag. The victorious Hats, however, reneged on their promise to increase the king's power.