Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm

Baron Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm (7 July 1756 in Sjundeå, Nyland, Sweden (now Finland) – 27 December 1813 in Schleswig), was a Swedish statesman. He acted as the de facto regent of Sweden during the minor regency of Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden between 1792 and 1796. Early career After a brief military career he was appointed Kammarherre to Sophia Magdalena, queen consort of Gustav III of Sweden and subsequently became intimately connected with the king's brother, Charles, then duke of Södermanland. He remained in the background throughout the reign of Gustavus III, whom he constantly opposed, particularly through the clandestine Walhalla-orden which he co-founded in Sveaborg. He was implicated in the 1789 Conspiracy. In the autumn of 1789, princess Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte prepared to depose Gustav III and place her husband Duke Charles upon the throne. Her ideal was the Swedish Constitution of 1772, which she saw as a good tool for an enlightened aristocracy, and the war and the Union and Security Act had made her a leading part of the opposition. She cooperated with Prince Frederick Adolf, Duke of Östergötland, and Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm. The plan was to force Charles to act as a symbol of the opposition to the Union and Security Act when the time was right. When the time arrived to make Charles act, however, he refused, which effectively discontinued the coup. He, along with the other malcontents, was imprisoned by Gustav III in 1789.