Finnish Privy Councillors

Finnish Privy Councillors

The Privy Council of Sweden or Council of the Realm (in Swedish Riksrådet until 1687; sometimes Latinised as Senatus Regni Sueciae) consisted originally of those men of noble, common and clergical background, that the king saw fit for advisory service. The constitution of 1634 stipulated that the king must have a council, but he was free to choose whomever he might find suitable for the job, as long as he was of Swedish birth. Particularly from Gustav Vasa, councillors were more the monarch's foremost advisors than autonomous lords.

At the introduction of absolutism, Charles XI had the equivalent organ named as kungligt råd, Royal Council. In the Period of Liberty, the medieval name was reused, but after the bloodless revolution of king Gustav III, the old organ was practically abolished, and he established in its stead the statsråd (Council of State), rather similar organ but circumventing the then constitution. In the 1809 Constitution, statsråd became the constitutional governmental cabinet. Beginning in the 19th century that council was gradually transformed into a cabinet of ministers led by a prime minister that functions independently of the monarch. With the constitution of 1975, the council was abolished and replaced by regeringen, which formalised the complete separation from the monarch. However, members of the Swedish Cabinet are still referred to as "Statsråd" or "Councillors of State".

The council originated as a council of regional magnates (stormän) acting as advisers to the monarch of the combined Swedes realms (from 996, approximately). Foremost among the council was the military commander, the Riksjarl (jarl, English: earl), an office heritable within a younger branch of the House of the Kingdom of Nericia, one of the constitutate parts of the realm.

During the reign of Magnus III of Sweden between 1275 and 1290 the meetings of the council became a permanent institution having the offices of Steward or Justiciar (Swedish: Drots), Constable (Swedish: Marsk) and Chancellor (Swedish: Kansler), who until the 1530s was always an eccleasiastic.