page_title: Charles XIII
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Charles XIII / Early life
caption_attribution_description: English: Duke Charles, the future King Charles XIII of Sweden
context_page_description: Charles XIII, or Carl XIII, was King of Sweden from 1809 and King of Norway from 1814 to his death. He was the second son of King Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, sister of Frederick the Great.
  Though known as King Charles XIII in Sweden, he was actually the seventh Swedish king by that name, as Charles IX had adopted his numeral after studying a fictitious history of Sweden. In Norway he is known as Charles II.
context_section_description: Prince Charles was placed under the tutelage of Hedvig Elisabet Strömfelt and then Ulrica Schönström. He was appointed grand admiral when he was but few days old. He was described as a good dancer at the amateur theatre of the royal court. Reportedly he was not very close to his mother. The Queen preferred her youngest children, Sophie Albertine and Frederick Adolf.
  Charles was, however, his father's favorite, and similar to him in personality. He was also described as close to his brother Gustav during their childhood.
  Because of his position as the heir to the throne after his elder brother Gustav, he was early targeted as a useful tool for the opposition to his brother: already in the 1760s, the Caps (party) tried to use him against his brother the crown prince through his then love interest countess Brita Horn, daughter of the Cap's politician Adam Horn. Gustav, however, was always careful to prevent Charles from being used by the opposition, which came to its first test during the December Crisis (1768), when Charles, ultimately, did not let himself be used by the Caps party. In 1770, he made a journey through Germany and France alone.
caption: Prince Charles,  in 1758 by Ulrica Pasch.
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