Carl XVI Gustaf

Names
	Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus

Carl XVI Gustaf
Carl XVI Gustaf
	Carl Gustaf in 2018
King of Sweden
Reign	15 September 1973 – present
Enthronement	19 September 1973
Predecessor	Gustaf VI Adolf
Heir apparent	Victoria
Prime ministers	See list Olof Palme; Thorbjörn Fälldin; Ola Ullsten; Ingvar Carlsson; Carl Bildt; Göran Persson; Fredrik Reinfeldt; Stefan Löfven; Magdalena Andersson; Ulf Kristersson;
Born	30 April 1946 (age 78); Haga Palace, Solna, Sweden
Spouse	Silvia Sommerlath (m. 1976)
Issue; Detail	Crown Princess Victoria; Prince Carl Philip; Princess Madeleine;
Names
Names
	Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus
House	Bernadotte
Father	Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten
Mother	Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Religion	Church of Sweden
Signature

Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus; born 30 April 1946) is King of Sweden.

Carl Gustaf was born during the reign of his paternal great-grandfather, King Gustaf V. He is 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 January 1947 in an airplane crash in Denmark 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, King Gustaf VI Adolf, ascended the throne in 1950.

Carl Gustaf ascended 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 Carl Gustaf of his remaining executive power. As a result, he no longer performs many of the duties normally accorded to a head of state, such as the formal appointment of the prime minister, signing off on legislation, and being commander-in-chief of the nation's military. The new instrument explicitly limited the king to ceremonial functions and, among other things, 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.

In June 1976, Carl Gustaf married Silvia Sommerlath. They have three children: Victoria, Carl Philip, and Madeleine. The King's heir apparent, after passage on 1 January 1980 of a new law establishing absolute primogeniture,^[1] is his eldest child, Crown Princess Victoria. Before the passage of that law, Victoria's younger brother, Carl Philip, was briefly the heir apparent, as of his birth in May 1979. Carl XVI Gustaf is the longest-reigning monarch in Swedish history, having surpassed King Magnus IV's reign of 44 years and 222 days on 26 April 2018.^[2]

^ Article Archived 26 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine by the Swedish Institute 15 June 2018
^ "King Carl XVI Gustaf now Sweden's longest-reigning monarch". The Local Sweden. 26 April 2018. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2018.

[1] Article Archived 26 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine by the Swedish Institute 15 June 2018

[2] "King Carl XVI Gustaf now Sweden's longest-reigning monarch". The Local Sweden. 26 April 2018. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2018.

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