Frederick I of Sweden

Frederick I
Portrait by Georg Engelhard Schröder, c. 1730s
King of Sweden
Reign24 March 1720 – 5 April 1751
Coronation3 May 1720
PredecessorUlrika Eleonora
SuccessorAdolf Frederick
Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
Reign23 March 1730 – 5 April 1751
PredecessorCharles I
SuccessorWilliam VIII
Prince consort of Sweden
Tenure5 December 1718 – 29 February 1720
Born(1676-04-28)28 April 1676
Kassel, Hesse-Kassel
Died5 April 1751(1751-04-05) (aged 74)
Stockholm, Sweden
Burial27 September 1751
Spouses
(m. 1700; died 1705)
(m. 1715; died 1741)
Issue
more...
Frederick William von Hessenstein
HouseHesse-Kassel
FatherCharles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
MotherMaria Amalia of Courland
ReligionProtestant
SignatureFrederick I's signature

Frederick I (Swedish: Fredrik I; 28 April 1676 – 5 April 1751) was King of Sweden from 1720 until his death, having been prince consort of Sweden from 1718 to 1720, and was also Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel from 1730. He ascended the throne following the death of his brother-in-law absolutist Charles XII in the Great Northern War, and the abdication of his wife, Charles's sister and successor Ulrika Eleonora, after she had to relinquish most powers to the Riksdag of the Estates and thus chose to abdicate. His powerless reign and lack of legitimate heirs of his own saw his family's elimination from the line of succession after the parliamentary government dominated by pro-revanchist Hat Party politicians ventured into a war with Russia, which ended in defeat and the Russian tsarina Elizabeth getting Adolf Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp instated following the death of the king. Whilst being the only Swedish monarch called Frederick, he was Frederick I of Hesse-Kassel and thus Frederick I also of Sweden, though other Swedish monarchs with non-repeating names (such as Birger, Sigismund and Frederick's successor: Adolf Frederick) had not been enumerated.