Prince Gustaf (1827–1852) of Sweden and Norway remembered

Today it is 170 years since Prince Gustaf, second eldest son of King Oscar I (1799–1859) and Queen Josephine, née Duchess of Leuchtenberg (1807–1876), died of typhoid fever at Christiania Palace (The Royal Palace) in Christiania (today Oslo). If it had not been for his death, he would have succeeded his brother Carl XV (IV) in 1872 and the history of the Swedish and Norwegian monarchies would of course have been very different.

Prince Gustaf was known as a composer, having written several well-known songs (in this part of the world), including Studentsången (The Student Song) and Vårsång (Spring Song) and several marches among others.

The 170th anniversary of Prince Gustaf's death was marked today in the Palace Chapel in Oslo where there were lectures by Odd Inge Skjævesland, who has written the book Sangerprinsen. Bernadottenes svensk-norske sjarmøretappe (2018), and the architect professor dr.philos. Thomas Thiis-Evensen, who spoke about The Royal Palace as a symbol. Prince Gustaf is one of only two members of the Norwegian Royal House (House of Bernadotte and from 1905 House of Glücksburg) to have died in The Royal Palace. The other was of course King Haakon VII, who died there in 1957. The arrangement in The Palace Chapel started at 11 a.m., which was at the exact time Prince Gustaf died on 24 September 1852.

Kåre Nordstoga and Per Anders Håvelsrud played several pieces by Prince Gustaf on the organ - Mina lefnadstimmar stupa, Sorgmarch – mig sjelf tillegnad [Mourning March – dedicated to myself], Tidens flykt [Flight of time] and Aftonhymn [Evening Song] (the two first by Nordstoga, the other two by Håvelsrud), while an ensemble from the Gudlbergs Akademiske Kor (Guldberg's Academic Choir) sang Morgenhymn, Vårsång and Studentsången. The event was arranged in co-operation with the Church of Sweden.

The event was opened by Sandra Lorentzen, head of curatorial and public engagement at the Royal Collections. She took over the position in June 2022 after having spent 7 years as a curator at the art and industry museum Blaafarveværket. Lorentzen has a Master of Arts in arts history from the University of Oslo and a Bachelor of science in management science from Warwick Business School in Coventry, England. Before Blaafarveværket she has worked at institutions such as Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum in Tromsø and Stenersenmuseet (from 2021 a part of the new Munch Museum in Bjørvika) and The National Theatre in Oslo. I mention all this to stress that she is more than qualified for her position at The Royal Palace, but as I am a genealogist it is interesting to note that she is the daughter of the artists Ida Lorentzen and Ulf Nilsen. Ida is the youngest child of Øivind Lorentzen, jr. (1919–2020) and Evelyn Byrd LaPrade (1921–1972), and Øivind was of course an elder brother of Erling Lorentzen (1923–2021), who was married to Princess Ragnhild of Norway (1930–2012) from 1953 to her death in 2012).

All in all it was an interesting and enjoyable time in the Palace Chapel, and after having heard Skjævesland's lecture his book about Prince Gustaf is added to my reading list.