Carl Gustav was born on April 30, 1946, at Haga Castle in Solna, near Stockholm. He is the only son of Prince Gustav Adolf and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
Nine months after Karl was born, his father Prince Gustav Adolf died in a plane crash, making our birthday boy today the second in line to succeed him to the throne of Sweden. The first was his grandfather, Crown Prince Gustav Adolf. But when his great-grandfather Gustav V passed away at the age of 50, it was four-year-old Carl Gustav who became heir to the throne.
