Carl Carlson Gyllenhielm (1574-1650)

Swedish nobleman. He was a soldier and a politician, a premarital son of Duke Carl, later King Carl IX of Sweden, and mistress Catherine (Karin) Nilsdotter. His younger half-brother eventually became King Gustav II Adolph of Sweden. It was common during that era for children born out of wedlock, who were not the results of adultery, to be acknowledged by their fathers. He was bought up at the royal Julita Estate in Sudermania, the province where his father then was duke. He was given the noble name Gyllenhielm in 1592. In the navy at first, he had transferred to the Swedish Army by the time of the war with Poland in 1600-1611. For twelve years, the Poles had him as their prisoner of war, during which time his Polish-resident cousin Princess Anne of Sweden kept an eye on his safety, even when his confinement was brutal. He was released from captivity in 1613, and his King Gustav Adolph made him a baron and a field marshal. Then, four years later, he took over the overseas Swedish province of Ingria as its governor general. Upon returning to Sweden he headed up the navy from 1620 as Lord High Admiral. In 1628 he was in charge of a tribunal that investigated the accidental sinking of the brand new warship Wasa in central Stockholm, which was a major scandal. He handled the transportation back to Sweden of King Gustav II Adolph's body when the king had died in action in 1632 in Germany, and he soon joined the regency for the little girl who now had inherited the throne, Queen Christina of Sweden, remaining with that task until 1644 when she came into her own. Karlberg Palace in Solna near Stockholm was built for him, and it was there he died. Some of the rooms in that palace have been kept as they were in his time. He and wife Christina Ribbing had no children.

Bio by: letemrip