He was placed under the tutelage of Hedvig Elisabet Strömfelt until the age of five, then educated under the care of two governors who were among the most eminent Swedish statesmen of the day: Carl Gustaf Tessin and Carl Fredrik Scheffer.
On the whole, Gustav cannot be said to have been well educated, but he read widely; there was scarcely a French author of his day with whose works he was not intimately acquainted.