Monarchy in the Age of Liberty : Royal power and public life in eighteenth-century Sweden

Abstract

This book is about the role of monarchy as an institution when the king has no power. During the Age of Liberty (1718–1772), absolutism was abolished in Sweden and the king reduced to a mere figurehead. Even so, the monarchy continued to be an indispensable part of the form of government. The king’s role in politics and public life is investigated, with special reference to the image of the monarch that was mediated through available channels. A central question is what ordinary subjects thought about the monarch as a person and as a political figure. As the king’s power was curtailed, the symbolic importance and public impact of the monarchy increased. Subjects learned more about the public and private lives of monarchs than ever before, and the period saw some of the most lavish royal ceremonies in Sweden’s history. This is not just a story about the development of ideas and political conditions on the margins of Europe; it is also a story of the public sphere and of political radicalisation in the West decades before the French Revolution.