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- BIOGRAPHY
Johann Adolf, Herzog von Holstein-Gottorp, was born in Gottorp on 25 February 1575, the third son of Adolf, Herzog von Holstein-Gottorp, and Christine, Landgräfin von Hessen.
On 30 August 1596 he married Princess Auguste of Denmark and Norway, daughter of his first cousin Frederik II, king of Denmark and Norway, and Herzogin Sophie zu Mecklenburg-Schwerin. They had eight children of whom two sons and three daughters would have progeny.
Johann Adolf became duke in 1590 after the deaths of his two elder brothers Friedrich II and Philipp. In the spring of 1598 he travelled incognito through England to Scotland to visit his wife's sister Anne, wife of James VI, then king of Scots (later king of England). His sojourn included a trip around the coastal towns of Fife and to Dundee. He also visited the fortress on Bass Rock, accompanied by William Schaw, the founder of freemasonry.
Johann Adolf died in Gottorp on 31 March 1616.
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