Karl Gustav

Karl Gustav Thorkelsson Nidaros-Volsdame (1505–1538) was a Nidarosian nobleman and royal, reigning in Nidaros as its second king and fourth monarch under the name King Karl Gustav (1519–1537). The son of Queen Birla and Lord Thorkel Volsdame, he was the elder brother of Prince Bjarngeir.

He became king upon his mother's abdication in 1519, when he was only 14 years old. The first four years of the reign was conducted by a council of regents, consisting of his father Lord Thorkel Volsdame, his father's mother, Princess Julia Asher-Jones, and his cousin Princess Charlotte de Nidaros. Upon reaching majority, he was crowned in 1524 and took on the reins of government. He became friends with Prince Andelarion whom he regarded as a mentor and a proxy grandfather, after becoming senator of the Lakes in 1523.

During the reign of Karl Gustav, Nidaros made amends with Hurmu, began a process of careful and subtle de-Vanicization. Karl Gustav was deeply religious, a member of the Nazarene Holy Nidarosian Church, and was thus seen as a threat to the Vanic hegemony in Stormark. Towards the end of his reign, he became sickly (it is believed he was being poisoned by arsenic). His younger brother, Prince Bjarngeir, was still a minor. Karl Gustav feared for a Vanic council of regency. To counter this, he made the unprecedented act of abdicating outside the dynasty, in favour of his mentor Prince Andelarion, who he hoped would be able to withstand the worst of the Vanic influence.

Months after abdicating, he died from arsenic poisoning.

Preceded by: Dagmar

Queen of Nidaros 1519–1537

Succeeded by Birla