Why were kings indispensable?

My latest book is about the monarchy during the Swedish Age of Liberty (1718–1772). The book can be ordered from online bookstores or read and downloaded for free here: https://doi.org/10.7765/9789198740448

The Age of Liberty was the historical era when the power of Swedish monarchs was at its lowest. Sweden was in practice a republic where political power was exercised by the Council of the Realm (the government) and the Riksdag (the parliament) with the four estates of nobility, clergy, burghers and peasants. At the same time, the king had an important sociological role to play, and some of the most lavish royal ceremonies in Swedish history were held during these years. The aim of my book is simply to investigate what role the monarchy played when the king had none.

In practice, the study is – albeit not explicitly – a classic SMCR analysis in which I examine ‘royalty’ in relation to Sender, Message, Channel and Receiver. Or rather, what constitutional function the monarchy had, how the image of the king was conveyed and through which tools, and how the king was perceived by the common people. Some conclusions are that the image of the king was fairly well disseminated through various channels, but he was not exclusively appreciated by all his subjects, which is otherwise often assumed in research. All in all, it can be said that even though the king did not have much formal power, he was, for a number of reasons, completely indispensable to the state system. This means that the most infamous detail of the Age of Liberty – the name stamp that replaced the king’s personal signature – was not primarily a tool for curbing royal power, but rather for maintaining the dignity of the king and the authority of the state.

Monarchy in the Age of Liberty: Royal power and public life in eighteenth-century Sweden is published by Lund University Press and distributed by Manchester University Press.

The book is a slightly revised version of a book that was published in Swedish in 2009.

Monarchy in the Age of Lberty: Royal power and public life in eighteenth-century Sweden (Lund: Lund University Press, 2026). 414 pp. Hardcover. Richly illustrated in b/w. ISBN (print) 978-91-98740-4-3-1; (open access) 978-91-98740-4-4-8

Available open access at: https://doi.org/10.7765/9789198740448

Image at the top: Johan Henrik Schildte, The coronation of Frederick I in the St Nicholas Church (’Storkyrkan’) in Stockholm 1720 (detail). From Gustavianum, the art collections of Uppsala University.