About this tour

This tour moves across the city rather than staying in one neighborhood. We follow the lives of LGBTQ+ people who shaped Stockholm — some celebrated in their own time, others only recognized much later — from the royal court to the streets where activists fought for the rights people here have today.

The exact route depends on what interests you most. We can lean further into royal history, literature, or the more recent fight for LGBTQ+ rights in Sweden — tell me your interests and I will shape the walk around them.

Featured Stories

Royalty & Early History

Queen Christina (1626–1689) abdicated the Swedish throne in 1654, rejected marriage, and dressed in ways that broke sharply with what was expected of a woman of her time. She left Sweden for Rome and remains one of the most studied nonconforming figures of the era.

King Gustav III (1746–1792) founded the Royal Swedish Opera and shaped Stockholm’s cultural life during the Enlightenment. Historians have long debated the nature of his closest relationships with men, though it remains a matter of interpretation rather than settled record.

Cultural & Literary Icons

Greta Garbo (1905–1990) grew up in Stockholm’s Södermalm district before becoming one of the most famous film actors of the 20th century. She lived a famously private life, and her long relationships with women, including Mercedes de Acosta, have been widely documented by biographers.

Karin Boye (1900–1941) was a poet and novelist, best known for her dystopian novel “Kallocain.” Her poetry and letters reveal relationships with women, and she is recognized today as one of the important lesbian voices in Swedish literature.

Nils Santesson is linked to Stockholm’s LGBTQ+ history through what has been referred to as the “Santesson Affair” of 1907. I have not yet been able to independently confirm the details of this account — this entry will be updated once sources are confirmed.

Pioneering Activists

Eva-Lisa Bengtson (1932–2018) is named in local accounts connected to LGBTQ+ life in Stockholm. I have not yet been able to independently confirm the details of her story — this entry will be updated once sources are confirmed.

Barbro “Babben” Westerholm (b. 1932) is a physician and politician who chaired RFSL, Sweden’s federation for LGBTQ+ rights, from the 1970s. She played a central role in Sweden removing homosexuality from its official list of mental illnesses in 1979, and later served in the Swedish Parliament.