List of Swedish monarchs

This is a list of Swedish kings, queens, regents, and viceroys of the Kalmar Union.

## History

The earliest record of what is generally considered to be a Swedish king appears in Tacitus' work *Germania*, c. 100 AD (the king of the Suiones). However, due to scant and unreliable sources before the 11th century, lists of succession traditionally start in the 10th century with king Olof Skötkonung, and his father Eric the Victorious, who also were the first Swedish kings to be baptized. There are, however, lists of Swedish pagan monarchs with far older dates, but in many cases these kings appear in sources of disputed historical reliability. These records notably deal with the legendary House of Yngling, and based on the Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus, Eric the Victorious and Olof Skötkonung have often been classified as belonging to the Swedish house of Ynglings, tracing them back to Sigurd Hring and Ragnar Lodbrok (whom Saxo considered to belong to the House of Yngling). However, according to Icelandic sources this line of kings was broken (see Ingjald and Ivar Vidfamne). As there is no evidence that Eric and Olof ever used the Yngling name themselves, modern historians instead refer to their family as the *House of Munsö*, the *Old Dynasty* or the *House of Uppsala*.

In the 16th century, Johannes Magnus constructed a mythical line of Swedish kings, beginning with Magog, the son of Japheth, to demonstrate the antiquity of the Swedish throne. On the basis of that list, Eric XIV and Charles IX chose to use high ordinals; previous monarchs with those names are traditionally numbered counting backward from Eric XIV and Charles IX. In contemporary Swedish usage, medieval kings are usually not given any ordinal at all.

A list of Swedish monarchs, represented on the map of the Estates of the Swedish Crown, created by French engraver Jacques Chiquet (1673–1721) and published in Paris in 1719, starts with Canute I and shows Eric XIV and Charles IX as Eric IV and Charles II respectively, while the only Charles who holds his traditional ordinal in the list is Charles XII, being the highest enumerated.

Sweden has been ruled by queens regnant on five occasions: by Margaret (1389–1412), Christina (1632–1654), Ulrika Eleonora (1718–1720), Sophie (1818-1865), and Alexandrine (1865-1904) respectively, and earlier, briefly, by a female regent Duchess Ingeborg (1318–1319).

In addition to the list below, the Swedish throne was also claimed by the kings of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1599 to 1660. Following his abdication Sigismund continued to claim the throne from 1599 to his death in 1632. After his death the claim was continued by his sons, Vladislaus IV (from 1632 to 1648) and John II Casimir (from 1648 to 1660).

The Swedish monarchs have been of the House of Oldenburg since 1751, when Elizabeth Petrovna of Russia selected Adolf Frederick as heir apparent to the throne. In 1818, the absolute monarchy was repealed as part of the terms of Queen Sophie's reinstatement to the line of succession. Since that time Sweden has existed as a constitutional monarchy, with the king and prime minister acting as joint heads of state. Certain kings have exercised more power and influence than others.

## Monarchs and regents of Sweden

### House of Munsö

c. 970 - c. 1995
 Olof Skötkonung
c. 995 – c. 1022
 Anund Jacob (*Anund Jakob*)
c. 1022–1050
 Emund the Old (*Emund den gamle*)
1050–1060

### House of Bjelbo

House of Bjelbo is sometimes referred to as the House of Folkung

### House of Mecklenburg

15 February 1364 — 24 February 1389
House of Hagen
(2, after his Swedish reign) Agnes of Brunswick-Lünburg
House of Welf

### House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch of the House of Wittelsbach

6 June 1654 – 13 February 1660
House of Oldenburg
 Charles XI (*Karl XI*)
13 February 1660 – 5 April 1697
 Charles XII (*Karl XII*)
5 April 1697 – 30 November 1718
 Ulrica Eleanor (*Ulrika Eleonora*)
5 December 1718 – 29 February 1720
House of Hesse
(see below)

### House of Hesse

24 March 1720 – 25 March 1751
house of Hohenzollern
(2) Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden
House of Wittelsbach