ABSTRACT
The victory of the Caps in the 1764 elections, the unprecedented and tumultuous proceedings of the 1765–6 riksdag and the eventual fall from power of the Caps in 1769 brought party strife in Sweden to a new pitch of intensity. An English traveller in 1769 observed that the people were much troubled by their government and he foresaw a great revolution. Crown prince Gustav feared that Sweden resembled a decayed building which threatened to collapse in ruins, and he voiced his concern on numerous occasions that Sweden seemed to be going the way of Poland. Renewed attempts to reform the constitution in 1769 came to nothing. The onslaught against noble privilege mounted by the non-noble estates in the riksdag of 1771–2 threatened to divide the nation still further. Gustav III’s efforts to reach a compromise between the warring parties was not heeded by the Caps, who packed the committees of the riksdag with their own partisans. Rumours of a planned coup by the court party had been relayed by foreign ministers since 1768, when Adolf Fredrik had threatened to abdicate if the estates were not convened. The crown prince was in France seeking support for a coup when he received news of his father’s death in 1771. The dismissal of Choiseul, the most ardent supporter of a restoration of royal power, was a blow to Gustav’s hopes. The young king had to rely for the time being on his own powers of persuasion as a Swedish-born patriot, content merely to be ‘the first citizen amongst a free people’. 1 At the end of 1771, however, French policy shifted. Gustav was urged to stage a coup, and French financial support for the Hats was withdrawn. Eager young royalists plotted the restoration of Sweden’s greatness in their club, Svensk botten, and plans were made for an uprising in Finland and southern Sweden. The fortress of Sveaborg was captured by J. M. Sprengtporten’s dragoons on 16 August 1772, but adverse winds delayed the seaborne transportation of these troops to join the king in Stockholm. At this critical stage, the king decided to act on his own initiative. He was able to secure the allegiance of the officers and men of the guards, and proceeded in triumph through the streets of the capital, having the members of the council arrested as they sat in session. There was no resistance to the coup, and the assembled estates dutifully acclaimed the constitution already drawn up by the king and his advisers.
