Gustav III of Sweden

Gustav III became King of Sweden in 1771, son of Adolf Frederick and Louisa Ulrika, and immediately set about dismantling the noble privileges that had hollowed out the monarchy since Charles XII's death. In 1772 he launched a coup d'état that ended the Age of Liberty, then cemented royal autocracy with the Union and Security Act of 1789, which also cracked the nobility's stranglehold by opening government posts to all citizens. An enlightened absolutist who admired Voltaire, he legalised Catholic and Jewish life, curtailed torture and executions, pursued economic liberalism - and gutted the 1766 Freedom of the Press Act with amendments that killed independent media. He founded the Swedish Academy and the Royal Swedish Opera, created a national costume, and in 1777 became the first neutral head of state to recognise the United States; he also restored a Swedish colonial foothold by acquiring Saint Barthélemy in 1784, profiting from the slave trade. After the French Revolution erupted in 1789, he tried to rally European princes to crush it and restore Louis XVI. On 16 March 1792, a nobleman shot him in the back at a masquerade ball during a coup attempt; Gustav h