Sweden Currency 10 Swedish Krona banknote 1979 King Gustaf VI Adolf
Swedish National Bank - Sveriges Riksbank
Obverse: Portrait of King Gustaf VI Adolf (1950 - 1973). Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Sweden at center.
Reverse: Stylised Northern Lights and snowflakes.
Watermark: Sequence of full-face portraits of August Strindberg.
Dominant colour: Green. Security thread: Vertical, solid, narrow.
Issuer: Sveriges Riksbank.
First Date of Issue: 1963.
Date of withdrawal: Invalid after 31 December 1998.
Printer: Tumba Bruk.
Sweden Banknotes - Sweden Paper Money
1963-1990 Issue
5 Kronor 10 Kronor 50 Kronor 100 Kronor 1000 Kronor
King Gustaf VI Adolf
Gustaf VI Adolf (Oscar Fredrik Wilhelm Olaf Gustaf Adolf, 11 November 1882 – 15 September 1973) was King of Sweden from 29 October 1950 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Gustaf V and his wife, Victoria of Baden, and had been Crown Prince of Sweden for the preceding 43 years in the reign of his father.
Gustaf VI Adolf was a lifelong amateur archeologist particularly interested in Ancient Italian cultures. Later in his life he was a keen supporter of civil rights, meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr. in Stockholm.
He was born at the Royal Palace in Stockholm and at birth created Duke of Skåne. A patrilineal member of the Bernadotte family, he was also a descendant of the House of Vasa through maternal lines. Through his mother, Victoria, he was a descendant of Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden of the deposed House of Holstein-Gottorp.
Crown Prince (1907–1950)
Gustaf Adolf became Crown Prince of Sweden on 8 December 1907, at the death of his grandfather, King Oscar II.
In 1938 he was elected an honorary member of the Virginia Society of the Cincinnati.
Reign (1950–1973)
On 29 October 1950, Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf became king at age 67 upon the death of his father, King Gustaf V. He was at the time the world's oldest heir apparent to a monarchy. His personal motto was Plikten framför allt, "Duty before all".
During Gustaf VI Adolf's reign, work was underway on a new Instrument of Government – eventually taking effect in 1975 after the king's death – to replace the 1809 constitution and produce reforms consistent with the times. Among the reforms sought by some Swedes was the replacement of the monarchy or at least some moderation of the old constitution's provision that "The King alone shall govern the realm."
Gustaf VI Adolf's personal qualities made him popular among the Swedish people and, in turn, this popularity led to strong public opinion in favour of the retention of the monarchy. Gustaf VI Adolf's expertise and interest in a wide range of fields (architecture and botany being but two) made him respected, as did his informal and modest nature and his purposeful avoidance of pomp. The monarchy was, however, made subordinate to a democratic state. Additional powers of the monarch were removed when Sweden's constitutional reform became complete in 1975.
The King died in 1973, ten weeks shy of his 91st birthday, at the old hospital in Helsingborg, Scania, close to his summer residence, Sofiero Castle, after a deterioration in his health that culminated in pneumonia. He was succeeded on the throne by his 27-year-old grandson Carl XVI Gustaf, son of the late Prince Gustaf Adolf. His death came only days before the election of 1973, which is suggested to have swayed it in support of the incumbent Social Democratic government. In a break with tradition, he was not buried in Riddarholmskyrkan in Stockholm, but in the Royal Cemetery in Haga alongside his two deceased wives.