King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what he saw as the abuse of political privileges seized by the nobility since the death of King Charles XII. Seizing power from the government in a coup d'état in 1772 that ended the Age of Liberty, he initiated a campaign to restore royal autocracy which was completed by the Union and Security Act of 1789, which swept away most of the powers once exercised by the Swedish Riksdag (parliament).
