Notable statesmen and monarchs

Birger Jarl

Earl Marshal 1248–1266: introduced the first national laws concerning the protection of women, the home, churches and the court.

Gustav Vasa King 1523–1560 (Viceroy 1521–1523): elected king after leading an uprising against occupation forces. Introduced the Protestant Reformation.

Axel Oxenstierna

Lord High Chancellor 1612–1654: laid the foundations of our modern administration. Served under King Gustav II Adolf and Queen Kristina.

Gustav II Adolf King 1611–1632: intervened in the Thirty Years’ War, making Sweden a leading military power. He died on the battlefield.

Kristina

Queen 1632–1654: the first female monarch of the modern Swedish kingdom. Abdicated in 1654, converting to Catholicism and settling in Rome.

Karl XII King 1697–1718: our ‘warrior king’ who initiated the Great Northern War, which for Sweden’s part ended with defeat at the Battle of Poltava in 1709.

Gustav III King 1771–1792: called the Theatre King, founded Stockholm’s first opera, the Swedish Academy, and the Royal Academy of Music. Assassinated at a masquerade ball.

Sweden's most popular failure

The Vasa ship is a testimony to the military ambitions of King Gustav II Adolf, the Lion of the North. He wanted the most powerful warship in the Baltic, if not the world. On its maiden voyage in 1628, Vasa only made it 1.3 kilometres before it sank, being too high, too top-heavy. Then, after 333 years on the seabed, the ship was salvaged and is today the world’s best preserved 17th century ship in the most visited museum in Sweden.