Gustaf V of Sweden

Born the eldest son of Oscar II in 1858, Gustaf V ascended in 1907 and became the first Swedish king since the High Middle Ages to forgo coronation. His early reign collided with the rise of parliamentary rule: in 1914 he dismissed Liberal Prime Minister Karl Staaff and installed his own man, but after the Liberals and Social Democrats won a majority, he bowed to the new government that stripped the monarchy of virtually all power and enacted universal suffrage by 1919. He remained popular for the next three decades, though his pro-German and anti-Communist stances surfaced during both world wars - he allegedly pressed Per Albin Hansson's government to accommodate Nazi logistics requests, fearing invasion, yet personally lobbied Miklos Horthy in 1944 to stop Jewish deportations and supported Raoul Wallenberg's rescue efforts. An avid sportsman, he presided over the 1912 Olympics and competed in tennis under the alias Mr G. well into his eighties. He died in 1950, succeeded by his son Gustaf VI Adolf, having outlasted the royal prerogatives that died with him.