One Big Family? How Swedish Royal Houses Are Linked Through Women

The houses change names. The women who carry the blood between them rarely get named.

I live in Stockholm, and the Royal Palace is never far away. A list of Swedish royal houses looks like a list of rivals. Stenkil. Sverker. Erik. Bjälbo. Vasa. Bernadotte. Each name sounds like a new start.

I wanted to check that. The answer is more interesting. The houses changed names. The families often did not. They married each other, adopted each other and fought each other. And the link was very often a woman.

Kings were chosen, not born

The Royal Court lists more than 70 monarchs in its Regentlängden. The list is long. The rules changed many times.

In the Middle Ages, a king was chosen. He was “taken” at the Mora stone. He rode the eriksgata, a tour of the provinces. Assemblies had to accept him. They could also depose him. Records for the earliest kings are thin. Names, dates and family links get less certain the further back we go.

Blood gave a claim. It did not give the crown by itself. That is why women matter here. A man with a royal mother had a claim through her. Watch for this. It comes back again and again.

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The queen without a name

The Royal Court’s list starts with Olof Skötkonung. I add his father, Erik Segersäll, at around 970–995. The usual account calls Erik the earlier king. Historiska museet calls Olof the first Christian king. It also says Olof was not yet king of a united Sweden. The date of his baptism is uncertain.

Olof had a wife and a mistress. Wikipedia: Olof Skötkonung says his wife Estrid gave him Anund Jakob and Ingegerd. Ingegerd married Yaroslav the Wise of Kiev. His mistress Edla gave him Emund, Astrid and Holmfrid. Astrid married Olaf II of Norway. Holmfrid married Sven Jarl.

Read that again. Emund was the son of a mistress. He still became king in 1050, after his half-brother Anund Jakob. Olof’s daughters became links to Kiev and Norway. Kings used daughters as bridges. Wikipedia: Anund Jacob says Anund’s own daughter Gyda married Sweyn Estridsen of Denmark. That page also names Anund’s wife as Gunhild. It says her earlier marriage is uncertain.

Then comes Stenkil, around 1060–1066. The Royal Court names a “Stenkil house” from him. The usual account says he married a daughter of Emund the Old. Her name is unknown. “Ingamoder” is a modern invention. Wikipedia: Ingamoder and Wikipedia: Stenkil say this. Two of her sons, Halsten and Inge the Elder, became kings. If the account is right, the new house began with a marriage into the old line. One woman links two houses. History does not write her name.

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Widows who moved the crown

Inge the Elder married a woman named Helena. Wikipedia: Inge the Elder says her brother, Blot-Sven, was king for about three years in the early 1080s. The Swedes forced Inge out because of his Christian reforms. Inge came back, killed his brother-in-law and took the throne again. He kept it until around 1110.

Inge and Helena had daughters. Christina married Mstislav of Novgorod. Margaret Fredkulla married King Magnus Barefoot of Norway, and after him King Niels of Denmark. Katarina married a Danish prince, Björn Ironside Haraldsson. Now look at the Royal Court list. Around 1125–1130 it names Magnus Nilsson. Wikipedia: Magnus the Strong says he was the son of Niels and Margaret Fredkulla. Look at his mother. She was Inge’s daughter.

Wikipedia: Magnus Henriksson tells a similar story. The Royal Court lists him as king around 1160–1161. His father was a Danish lord. His mother, Ingrid Ragnvaldsdotter, was a granddaughter of Inge the Elder. Wikipedia says this maternal line gave him his claim. It also says the Danish chronicler Saxo wrote that he paid a servant to kill King Sverker in 1156. Legend says he killed Erik the Holy in 1160. Treat those two claims with care. Saxo and legend are old and biased sources.

Now follow two widows. Wikipedia: Inge the Younger says Inge the Younger married Ulvhild Håkansdotter, a Norwegian lord’s daughter. He died around 1125. Wikipedia says his death ended the House of Stenkil. The Royal Court still lists Magnus Henriksson under the Stenkil house later. The sources differ. Wikipedia: Sverker I says Sverker the Elder then married Ulvhild. He also married Richeza of Poland, who was the widow of Magnus Nilsson. Two queens. Two dead kings. Both women married Sverker next. Ulvhild’s son Karl Sverkersson was king around 1161–1167. The Royal Court puts Sverker’s own reign at around 1130–1156. One page cannot prove all of this. I found these marriages in Wikipedia only. I did not find them in an official source.

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A saint and his queen

The Sverker house and the Erik house then fought for about a century. The Royal Court lists Erik the Holy at around 1156–1160. Historiska museet says 1150–1160. Both dates are in use.

His queen was Kristina. Wikipedia: Christina of Denmark, Queen of Sweden and Wikipedia: Canute I of Sweden say she was a granddaughter of Inge the Elder. Inge’s daughter Katarina married the Danish prince Björn. The usual account makes Kristina their daughter. If so, the “Erik house” also carries Stenkil blood, through a woman. Their son Knut was king around 1167–1195. The legend of Erik the Holy was written down in the 1270s. His bones show a violent death.

Knut’s wife is uncertain. Wikipedia says the name “Cecilia Johansdotter” is sometimes used, but it is not proven. Knut had four sons. Three died at the battle of Älgarås in 1205. Erik Knutsson lived. He became king around 1208. Wikipedia: Erik Knutsson says he married Rikissa of Denmark in 1210. She was the daughter of Valdemar I of Denmark. Their children were Sophia, Martha, Ingeborg, Erik and, possibly, Marianna. Notice the ratio. Three or four daughters. One son who lived to rule.

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The sister behind the Bjälbo kings

Ingeborg Eriksdotter was Erik Knutsson’s daughter. She married Birger Jarl in the 1230s. Her brother, Erik Eriksson, was king in 1222–1229 and again in 1234–1250. He died in 1250 without surviving children. Wikipedia: Erik Eriksson says the throne then passed to Ingeborg’s children.

Look at the wives on both sides. Erik Eriksson married Katarina Sunesdotter in 1243 or 1244. Wikipedia: Catherine Sunesdotter says she came from the Bjälbo and Sverker families. Her grandparents were Sverker the Younger and Benedicta Hvide. So the Erik house and the Sverker house did marry, late, and through a woman. Erik and Katarina had no surviving children. After he died, Katarina became abbess of Gudhem. She gave away her land and died in 1252.

Sverker the Younger’s second wife was Ingegerd Birgersdotter. Wikipedia: Sverker the Younger says she was the daughter of Jarl Birger Brosa of the Folkung family. Their son Johan was king in 1216–1222. Scholars debate the order of Sverker’s marriages. Still, one Folkung daughter went into the Sverker house first.

Now the Bjälbo house. Ingeborg and Birger Jarl had seven surviving children, says Wikipedia: Ingeborg Eriksdotter. Two of them became kings: Valdemar, elected in 1250, and Magnus Ladulås, king from 1275. Ingeborg died in 1254. Birger Jarl was Rikets jarl in 1248–1266. He ruled as guardian regent for his sons. A Skara parish page says he was tied to the royal family by marriage, not by blood. He married again in 1261. Wikipedia: Birger Jarl names an illegitimate son, Gregers Birgersson.

Women also gained from Birger’s rule. Historiska Media and SO-rummet credit Birger with peace laws that protected women (kvinnofrid), and with half the inheritance for sisters. Both sources are popular history. I did not find the laws in an official source.

Valdemar married Sophia of Denmark in 1260. Wikipedia: Valdemar Birgersson says they had six known children. It also says he had an affair with his sister-in-law Jutta, and a child was born in 1273. His brother Magnus deposed him after the battle of Hova in 1275. The page says taxes and “personal matters” caused it.

Wikipedia: Magnus Ladulås says Magnus married Helvig of Holstein in 1276. It says she was regent, probably in 1290–1302 and 1320–1327. Their children were Ingeborg, Birger, Erik, Valdemar and Rikissa. Ingeborg married King Erik VI of Denmark. Rikissa became an abbess in Stockholm. Wikipedia also mentions a child, Erik, from an alleged first marriage that was annulled. The evidence is thin.

Birger Magnusson became king in 1290. Wikipedia: Birger Magnusson says he married Martha of Denmark in 1298. In 1317 he captured his brothers, Erik and Valdemar, at the Nyköping banquet. They died in a cellar. Erik’s son Magnus Eriksson became king in 1319. Wikipedia: Magnus Eriksson says his mother was Ingeborg of Norway, daughter of King Haakon V. He married Blanche of Namur in 1335. Their sons were Erik and Haakon.

Now watch the sister line again. Magnus Eriksson had a sister, Euphemia. Wikipedia: Albrekt of Mecklenburg says her son Albrekt of Mecklenburg was Magnus’s nephew. Albrekt fought Magnus and deposed him. He ruled from 1364 to 1389. His claim ran through his mother. His wives were Richardis of Schwerin and Agnes of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

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Women who held power

The Royal Court lists only three women as monarchs. The first is Margareta. The Royal Court gives her reign as 1389–1396. Historiska museet gives 1389–1412. Wikipedia: Margaret I of Denmark says she was queen of Sweden from February 1389. It says her husband was Haakon VI of Norway, who was also briefly king of Sweden in 1362–1364. Their only son, Olaf, died in 1387, aged 16. Margareta then ruled in his name. She adopted her great-nephew Erik of Pomerania as heir. He became king of the Kalmar Union in 1397.

Adoption made a king here. It was not blood. Wikipedia: Eric of Pomerania says he married Philippa of England in 1406, when she was 12. She died in 1430. The page lists no legitimate children. After that, Erik took a mistress named Cecilia. The page calls her his “morganatic spouse” and says the relationship was a public scandal.

Erik’s successor was Kristoffer of Bavaria (1441–1448). Wikipedia: Christopher of Bavaria says his wife was Dorothea of Brandenburg. He died in 1448. Dorothea then married Christian I. Wikipedia: Christian I of Denmark says he married her in 1449. He founded the Oldenburg line. The Royal Court lists him as king of Sweden in 1457–1464. Their children were Hans, Margaret and Frederick. Margaret married James III of Scotland. So the widow of one king became the wife of a later king. A queen linked two houses.

Karl Knutsson ruled three times between 1448 and 1470. Wikipedia: Charles VIII of Sweden says he had three wives: Birgitta Turesdotter, Katarina Gumsehuvud and Kristina Abrahamsdotter. The third wife was a former mistress. He married her on his deathbed. His daughter Kristina Karlsdotter married Erik Eriksson Gyllenstierna. His son Karl, born 1465, was legitimized. Even so, the page says the regent role went to Sten Sture the Elder, whom it calls Karl’s nephew. Wikipedia: Sten Sture the Elder says Sten married Ingeborg Tott in 1467. The marriage was childless. He had an illegitimate daughter, Birgitta, who became a nun at Vadstena. It calls Ingeborg a “renaissance personality interested in theology and science.”

Next, Hans, king in 1497–1501. Wikipedia: Hans of Denmark says his wife Christina of Saxony was in Swedish captivity until 1503. Their son was Christian II. Christian II married Isabella of Austria, granddaughter of Emperor Maximilian I. Wikipedia: Christian II of Denmark also names his mistress Dyveke and her mother, Sigbrit. It says Sigbrit became his chief counsellor and controlled the Sound Dues. A woman ran the money of a king.

Sten Sture the Younger led Sweden in 1512–1520. Wikipedia: Sten Sture the Younger says he borrowed the Sture name. It says he was only a distant relative of Sten Sture the Elder. A name can be a political tool. His wife was Kristina Gyllenstierna. Wikipedia: Christina Gyllenstierna says he married her on 16 November 1511. Six children were born. One reached adulthood.

Kristina Gyllenstierna is a great-granddaughter of Karl Knutsson. Her husband died at Bogesund on 19 January 1520. She then led the Sture side. She commanded Stockholm Castle in her son’s name. She held out for four months. She gave up on 7 September 1520 in return for an amnesty. Christian II broke it. That was the Stockholm Bloodbath. She was held prisoner until 1523. Wikipedia says she was engaged at Christmas 1526 and married Johan Turesson Tre Rosor in the summer of 1527. Sources say Gustav Vasa arranged the match. They had one son. Without her, the story of 1520 looks very different.

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The Vasa web

Gustav Vasa was regent in 1521. He became king on 6 June 1523. The Royal Court says he introduced agnatic succession. Only the male line could inherit, and the firstborn son came first. He had daughters. The rule ignored them. Wikipedia: Gustav I of Sweden lists his three wives. Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg (married 1531) gave him Erik XIV. Margareta Leijonhufvud (married 1536) gave him Johan III, Karl IX, Magnus and five daughters: Katarina, Cecilia, Anna, Sofia and Elisabet. Katarina Stenbock (married 1552) has no children in the page. Wikipedia says he descended from Birger Jarl through Gregers Birgersson. I did not find a second source.

Erik XIV married Karin Månsdotter on 4 July 1568. Wikipedia: Sophia Vasa says his half-sister Sophia married Magnus II of Saxe-Lauenburg on the same day, in a double wedding. It says she did not want the marriage. She “refused and stalled.” A princess said no. She still married that day. Wikipedia: Erik XIV also lists three daughters with Agda Persdotter, outside marriage: Virginia, Constantia and Lucretia.

Johan III married Catherine Jagiellon in 1562 and Gunilla Bielke in 1585. Wikipedia: Johan III says Catherine’s son Sigismund became king of Poland and Sweden. Karin Hansdotter gave Johan four children outside marriage. They carried the name Gyllenhielm, and Sofia married Pontus De la Gardie. Wikipedia: Karl IX says his illegitimate son, Carl Carlsson Gyllenhielm (mother Karin Nilsdotter), became a field marshal. Two brothers. The same surname for children outside marriage. Karl IX also had two wives. The second, Christina of Holstein-Gottorp, was the mother of Gustav II Adolf.

Keep that house name in mind. Holstein-Gottorp appears twice before it takes the throne. Christina of Holstein-Gottorp married Karl IX in 1592. Later, Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp married Karl X Gustav in 1654.

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Two queens crowned “king”

Gustav II Adolf married Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg. Wikipedia: Gustavus Adolphus names their daughter Kristina. It also names an illegitimate son, Gustav, Count of Vasaborg. The page does not name his mother.

Kristina was crowned on 20 October 1650 “as king, as it was then called.” That is my translation of the Livrustkammaren text. The title there is “Now Kristina is crowned King.” The Riksdag met on 9 October 1650. It gave the inheritance to Karl Gustav “and his male heirs.” She abdicated on 6 June 1654. She converted in secret on 24 December 1654 in Brussels, and in public on 3 November 1655 in Innsbruck. Then she went to Rome. Wikipedia: Christina, Queen of Sweden says she never married and had no children. It says Karl Gustav was her first cousin, and that she recommended two of Duke Frederick III’s daughters to him.

Read that once more. The queen who refused marriage helped pick the next queen. Karl X Gustav married Hedwig Eleonora on 24 October 1654. Wikipedia: Karl X Gustav says he was the son of Johan Kasimir and Katarina, Karl IX’s daughter. That made him Kristina’s cousin, and a Pfalz prince. The Royal Court lists a new house here. The family tie was close. The page lists five children outside marriage, with five mothers. Two examples: Gustaf Carlson (born 1647, mother Märta Allertz) and Charles Jankovský z Vlašimi (born 1644, mother Ludmila Jankovská von Lažan). Their father later became king. They never did.

Karl X’s son Karl XI married Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark in 1680. Wikipedia: Karl XI says they had seven children. Three lived to adulthood: Hedvig Sofia, Karl XII and a younger Ulrika Eleonora. Wikipedia: Karl XII says Karl XII never married and had no children.

His younger sister was crowned on 17 March 1719 as “King of Sweden, Goths and Wends.” The Riksdag refused co-rule with her husband. She gave the throne to Fredrik I in 1720. The Royal Court lists his house as Hessen, 1720–1751. Wikipedia: Fredrik I says his first wife was Luise Dorothea of Prussia. She died in December 1705. His second wife was Ulrika Eleonora. It says they had no children. With Hedvig Taube he had three children outside marriage: Frederick William, Charles Edward and Hedwig Amalia von Hessenstein. Ulrika Eleonora gave Fredrik the crown. Hedvig Taube gave him three children. Both women get little space in the list.

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An empress picks a king

The Treaty of Åbo of 1743 ended the war between Sweden and Russia. Sweden gave up land east of the Kymi River. Wikipedia: Treaty of Åbo says Empress Elizabeth of Russia backed Adolf Frederick. He became king in 1751. The Royal Court lists his house as Holstein-Gottorp. One source says he was linked to the old Vasa family through Christina Magdalena of Pfalz-Zweibrücken. I did not check that second source.

Wikipedia: Adolf Frederick says he married Louisa Ulrika of Prussia in 1744. Their children were Gustav III, Karl XIII, Frederick Adolf and Sophia Albertina, and a stillborn child. The page also lists two children outside marriage. Adolf Fredriksson’s mother was Jeanne Du Londel. Frederici’s mother was Marguerite Morel. A third possible child, Lolotte Forssberg, is not confirmed.

Louisa Ulrika is the woman to remember. Wikipedia: Louisa Ulrika says her brother was Frederick the Great, and that he first opposed the marriage. She founded the Academy of Letters in 1753. She made Drottningholm a centre for theater and learning. In 1756 she led a failed coup to bring back royal power. The page says seven plotters were executed. Other sources may give a different number. The Riksdag formally reprimanded her. Wikipedia says her son Gustav III later succeeded where she failed, in 1772.

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A French general and a reluctant queen

Gustav III married Sophia Magdalena of Denmark in 1766. Wikipedia: Gustav III says their son Gustav IV Adolf was king from 1792. The Riksdag deposed him in 1809. Wikipedia: Gustav IV Adolf says he married Frederica of Baden in 1797. They divorced in 1812. They had five children. It also lists Adolf Gustafsson, born in 1820 to Maria Schlegel, outside marriage.

His uncle, Karl XIII, took the throne. Wikipedia: Karl XIII says he married Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp in 1774. The couple lived separate lives. Two children died as babies. Karl also had a son outside marriage, Carl Axel Löwenhielm, with Augusta von Fersen. The king had no heir. He adopted a Danish prince, Charles August, who died in 1810. Then the Riksdag elected Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte in August 1810 at Örebro. Karl XIII adopted him.

Wikipedia lists reasons. Bernadotte was a proven general. He had a link to Napoleon. He had treated Swedish prisoners well at Lübeck. A Swedish officer named Mörner acted on his own. I found these reasons in Wikipedia only. He became king Karl XIV Johan in 1818. The Royal Court says the period of peace began in his reign.

Now his wife. Wikipedia: Désirée Clary says she came from a wealthy silk family in Marseille. She was engaged to Napoleon Bonaparte on 21 April 1795. He broke it on 6 September 1795. He then took Joséphine de Beauharnais. Désirée’s sister Julie married Joseph Bonaparte and became queen of Naples and Spain. Désirée married Bernadotte on 17 August 1798. Oscar was born on 4 July 1799. She came to Sweden on 22 December 1810. Sweden did not suit her. She left in June 1811 and lived in Paris. She came back in June 1823. She was queen consort from 1818. She was crowned on 21 August 1829. The delay was probably about her Catholic faith. Kungliga slotten and SKBL both write about her.

Now watch the thread. Oscar I married Josephine of Leuchtenberg in 1823. Wikipedia: Josephine of Leuchtenberg says her grandmother was Joséphine de Beauharnais, Napoleon’s first wife. Napoleon asked that the child be named Joséphine. So Oscar’s mother was the woman Napoleon left. His wife was the granddaughter of the woman Napoleon chose. The page also says Josephine descended from Karl IX through a sister of Karl X Gustav. So the Vasa blood came back into the Bernadotte house through Oscar’s wife. I found that Vasa claim only in Wikipedia.

Oscar I and Josephine had five children, says Wikipedia: Oscar I. Two were kings, Karl XV and Oscar II. The page also names three children outside marriage. The actress Emilie Högquist had Hjalmar and Max. Countess Jaquette Löwenhielm had Anna Maria Oscara Hilder.

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The blood comes back

Gustav IV Adolf died in 1837 in St. Gallen. Contact with him was forbidden. Yet his blood came back. Wikipedia: Princess Sophie of Sweden says his daughter Sophie married Prince Leopold of Baden in 1819. Their son Frederick I became Grand Duke of Baden. His daughter Victoria of Baden married the future Gustaf V in 1881. Wikipedia: Victoria of Baden says their sons were Gustaf VI Adolf, Wilhelm and Erik.

The Royal Court says Victoria was a great-granddaughter of Gustav IV Adolf, and so a descendant of Gustav Vasa. Look at the Baden link. Gustav IV Adolf’s wife came from Baden. His daughter married into Baden. His great-granddaughter, a Baden princess, became queen of Sweden. The 1881 marriage was also a political alliance. She was conservative. She gave a well-known speech in the Borggården in 1914. She founded Sophiahemmet. She was queen from 1907 to 1930, says SKBL.

Wikipedia: Gustaf VI Adolf says he married Margaret of Connaught in 1905 and Louise Mountbatten in 1923. His eldest son, Prince Gustaf Adolf, died in a plane crash in 1947. Prince Gustaf Adolf was the father of Carl XVI Gustaf. Wikipedia: Carl XVI Gustaf says his mother was Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He married Silvia Sommerlath on 19 June 1976. Their children are Victoria (born 1977), Carl Philip (born 1979) and Madeleine (born 1982).

Föreningen DIS says Carl XVI Gustaf descends from Gustav Vasa in 91 ways. The Riksdag decided in 1979 to let the oldest child inherit, no matter the sex. The rule took effect on 1 January 1980. That is why Victoria, born in 1977, comes before her brother Carl Philip, born in 1979. Wikipedia: Swedish Act of Succession gives more detail.

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Children outside marriage

The sources name many children born outside marriage. The mothers are named less often. Here are the women that my sources name: Edla (Olof Skötkonung), Karin Hansdotter (Johan III), Agda Persdotter (Erik XIV), Karin Nilsdotter (Karl IX), Märta Allertz (Karl X Gustav), Hedvig Taube (Fredrik I), Jeanne Du Londel and Marguerite Morel (Adolf Frederick), Augusta von Fersen (Karl XIII), Maria Schlegel (Gustav IV Adolf), Emilie Högquist and Jaquette Löwenhielm (Oscar I).

Some children never got recognized. Wikipedia says Oscar II never officially recognized any illegitimate child. It lists at least five suspected ones. It also says people widely rumored that Karl XV had more. Two of his illegitimate children are named: Carl Johan Bolander and Ellen Svensson Hammar. The lists are not complete. They only hold what someone could trace.

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What the list hides

The Royal Court lists changes of house. Föreningen DIS traces how later kings descend from Gustav Vasa. Together, they make one point. The houses look separate. The families overlap.

I cannot promise a 1,000-year chain of blood. The first kings are hard to name. The sources for the medieval kings are thin. Some links come from one source. I marked those.

The Royal Court list has 70+ names. Only three are women: Margareta, Kristina and Ulrika Eleonora. The house names are men’s names. Bernadotte. Vasa. Bjälbo. Yet the links between the houses are very often women. Queens. Widows. Abbesses. Mistresses. Sisters. Mothers.

Next time a guide names a royal house, will you ask who the mother was?

The royal timeline with wives and children

The years and houses come from the Royal Court’s Regentlängden. I added Erik Segersäll myself. The “Wife or wives” and “Children” columns come from the Wikipedia pages listed under Sources. I write “not found” when the pages I read gave no answer. That does not prove there was no wife or child.

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Sources

Official and institutional

• The Royal Court: Monarkins historia and Regentlängden. I read this from screenshots.
• The Royal Court: Karl XIV Johan
• The Royal Court: Victoria of Baden
• Historiska museet: Regentlängd
• Livrustkammaren: Sveriges regenter, plus its pages on Gustav Vasa, Drottning Kristina, Karl X Gustav, Ulrika Eleonora, Adolf Fredrik, Gustav IV Adolf, Karl XIV Johan and Carl XVI Gustaf
• Kungliga slotten: Lovisa Ulrika, and its pages on Desideria
• SKBL: Kristina, drottning, and SKBL articles on Kristina Gyllenstierna, Desideria, Lovisa Ulrika and Victoria
• Skara stift on Birger Jarl and baptism; Uppsala domkyrka on Erik den helige; Föreningen DIS on descent from Gustav Vasa; SO-rummet; Historiska Media

Wikipedia (English)

Early kings, about 970–1130

• Wikipedia: Ingamoder
• Wikipedia: Stenkil
• Wikipedia: Emund the Old
• Wikipedia: Olof Skötkonung
• Wikipedia: Eric the Victorious
• Wikipedia: House of Stenkil
• Wikipedia: House of Erik
• Wikipedia: Anund Jacob
• Wikipedia: Halsten Stenkilsson
• Wikipedia: Inge the Elder
• Wikipedia: Inge the Younger
• Wikipedia: Magnus the Strong

Sverker, Erik and Bjälbo houses, 1130–1364

• Wikipedia: Sverker I
• Wikipedia: Saint Erik
• Wikipedia: Christina of Denmark, Queen of Sweden
• Wikipedia: Magnus Henriksson
• Wikipedia: Charles VII of Sweden
• Wikipedia: Canute I of Sweden
• Wikipedia: Sverker the Younger
• Wikipedia: Erik Knutsson
• Wikipedia: Erik Eriksson
• Wikipedia: Catherine Sunesdotter
• Wikipedia: Ingeborg Eriksdotter
• Wikipedia: Birger Jarl
• Wikipedia: Valdemar Birgersson
• Wikipedia: Magnus Ladulås
• Wikipedia: Birger Magnusson
• Wikipedia: Magnus Eriksson
• Wikipedia: Haakon VI of Norway

Kalmar Union and the Sture regents, 1364–1523

• Wikipedia: Albrekt of Mecklenburg
• Wikipedia: Margaret I of Denmark
• Wikipedia: Eric of Pomerania
• Wikipedia: Christopher of Bavaria
• Wikipedia: Charles VIII of Sweden
• Wikipedia: Christian I of Denmark
• Wikipedia: Sten Sture the Elder
• Wikipedia: Hans of Denmark
• Wikipedia: Christian II of Denmark
• Wikipedia: Sten Sture the Younger
• Wikipedia: Christina Gyllenstierna

Vasa, Pfalz and Hessen, 1523–1751

• Wikipedia: Gustav I of Sweden
• Wikipedia: Sophia Vasa
• Wikipedia: Erik XIV
• Wikipedia: Johan III
• Wikipedia: Sigismund III Vasa
• Wikipedia: Karl IX
• Wikipedia: Gustavus Adolphus
• Wikipedia: Christina, Queen of Sweden
• Wikipedia: Karl X Gustav
• Wikipedia: Karl XI
• Wikipedia: Karl XII
• Wikipedia: Ulrika Eleonora
• Wikipedia: Fredrik I

Holstein-Gottorp and Bernadotte, 1743 to today

• Wikipedia: Treaty of Åbo
• Wikipedia: Adolf Frederick
• Wikipedia: Louisa Ulrika
• Wikipedia: Gustav III
• Wikipedia: Gustav IV Adolf
• Wikipedia: Karl XIII
• Wikipedia: Karl XIV Johan
• Wikipedia: Désirée Clary
• Wikipedia: Josephine of Leuchtenberg
• Wikipedia: Oscar I
• Wikipedia: Karl XV
• Wikipedia: Oscar II
• Wikipedia: Princess Sophie of Sweden
• Wikipedia: Victoria of Baden
• Wikipedia: Gustaf VI Adolf
• Wikipedia: Carl XVI Gustaf
• Wikipedia: Swedish Act of Succession

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