Carl XVI Gustaf
King of Sweden since 1973
Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus; born 30 April 1946) is King of Sweden since 15 September 1973. Having reigned for 53 years, he is the longest-reigning monarch in Swedish history and the second longest-serving current head of state.
Carl Gustaf was born during the reign of his paternal great-grandfather, King Gustaf V, as the youngest child and only son of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. His father died in an airplane crash in Denmark in January 1947, when Carl Gustaf was nine months old. Carl Gustaf became crown prince and heir apparent to the Swedish throne at the age of four when his grandfather Gustaf VI Adolf acceded to the throne in 1950.
Carl Gustaf acceded to the throne upon his grandfather's death on 15 September 1973. Shortly after he became king, the new 1974 Instrument of Government took effect, formally stripping the monarchy of its remaining executive powers. As a result, Carl Gustaf no longer performs many of the duties normally accorded to a head of state in parliamentary regimes, such as the formal appointment of the prime minister, signing legislation into law, and being commander-in-chief of the nation's military. The new instrument explicitly limited the king to ceremonial and representative functions, while he retained the right to be regularly informed of affairs of state. As head of the House of Bernadotte, Carl Gustaf has also been able to make a number of decisions about the titles and positions of its members.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Carl XVI Gustaf” is king of Sweden since 1973. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Carl, Gustaf and King, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “king of Sweden since 1973” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q45068. VIAF identifies the subject as 66442200. The Library of Congress control number is n79043923. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1946, 1973, 1947 and 1950.
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This entry incorporates text from “Carl XVI Gustaf” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.