Gustav, Duke of Zweibrucken

Duke and count palatine Gustav Samuel Leopold (b 12 April 1670 at Stegeborg castle near Söderköping, Sweden; d 17 September 1731 at Zweibrücken, Germany) was since 1718 ruler of the German principality of Zweibrücken. His titles included: 5th Duke of Stegeborg (in Sweden), "Pfalzgraf" zur Rhein, and Herzog von Bayern.

He was the last anywhere-reigning male member of the Kleeburg line of the House of Wittelsbach.

Already in 1689 he succeeded his elder brother as ruler of the small fief of Kleeburg, and in a long list of German and Swedish titles. King Charles XII of Sweden, his first cousin once removed, fell in military expedition in late 1718 in Norway, whereby Gustav succeeded as ruler of Zweibrucken. The king's death also made him technically one of candidates to the Swedish throne.

Duke Gustav had (in 1720..25) the baroque residence castle of Zweibrucken built, the Swede Jonas Eriksson Sundahl as builder.

In Swedish politics, Duke Gustav was the last male of the line of his paternal grandmother, Katarina Vasa. Upon the death of his cousin King Charles XII, duke Gustav of Stegeborg was technically one of the candidates to legitimate succession to the thrones of Sweden and grand duchy of Finland. He would have become king Gustav III, had he succeeded. However, no strong faction or party in Sweden took up his cause, and his succession rights are not much remembered in history.Instead, his cousin Ulrica Eleanora managed to become the Swedish queen.

Duke Gustav of Stegeborg died during the reign of Frederick I of Sweden. His Swedish rights were inherited either by his nephew Charles Adolf Gyllenstierna, count of Ericsberg, or his sister, the countess Marie Elisabeth of Kleeburg, or their cousin, Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp.

Sources

* Architectural history (Zweibrucken)
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