Sweden: Difference between revisions

Upon the heirless death of King Eric XVIII in 1850, his sister, Hedwig, was expected to become queen. However, the Riksdag was wary of her connections to the Austrian Habsburgs through her marriage. The Riksdag opted to elect a different king, a cousin of Eric XVIII. However, by the fall of that year, Hedwig, backed by loyal men in the Swedish army and supported by Britain, launched a coup against the Riksdag. This led to the 1851 Instrument of Government, which severely elevated the role of the Swedish monarch and severely curtailed the rights of the Riksdag. The Swedish ruling dynasty would be then known as Habsburg-Zweibrücken since Hedwig's rule up until the abolition of monarchy in 1941.