Gustavus Adolphus of the Palatinate

Prince Gustavus Adolphus
Prince Gustavus (left), with his oldest sister, Elisabeth of the Palatinate (right) by Gerard van Honthorst.
Born	(1632-01-14)14 January 1632 The Hague, Dutch Republic
Died	9 January 1641(1641-01-09) (aged 8) The Hague, Dutch Republic
Burial	Kloosterkerk
House	Palatinate-Simmern
Father	Frederick V, Elector Palatine
Mother	Elizabeth Stuart
Religion	Protestant

Gustavus Adolphus of the Palatinate (Prince Palatine Gustavus Adolphus; 14 January 1632 – 9 January 1641), was the last son of Frederick V, Elector Palatine (of the House of Wittelsbach), the "Winter King" of Bohemia, by his consort, the British princess Elizabeth Stuart. Gustavus was born in the Dutch Republic, where his family had sought refuge after the sequestration of the Electorate during the Thirty Years' War. Gustavus's brother Charles Louis was, as part of the Peace of Westphalia, restored to the Palatinate.^[1]

Prince Gustavus was born in The Hague, where his parents lived in exile after his father lost the Battle of White Mountain and was driven from the thrones of both Bohemia and the Palatinate. He was named after King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, a close friend of both his parents. His paternal grandparents were Frederick IV and of Louise Juliana of Nassau and his maternal grandparents were James VI and I and Anne of Denmark. His father, a Calvinist, died on 29 November 1632, when Gustavus was a baby.

Gustavus died of epilepsy on 9 January 1641, at 8 years of age.

• Carl Eduard Vehse: Geschichte der deutschen Höfe seit der Reformation: 4. Abth., Geschichte der Höfe der Häuser Baiern, Würtemberg, Baden und Hessen; 2. Th, Band 24, Hoffmann und Campe, 1853, S. 101 (in German)