Privy Council of Sweden

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The Council of the Realm, or simply The Council (Swedish: Riksrådet or Swedish: Rådet: sometimes in Latin: Senatus Regni Sueciae), was a cabinet of medieval origin, consisting of magnates (Swedish: stormän) which advised, and at times co-ruled with, the King of Sweden.

The 1634 Instrument of Government, Sweden's first written constitution in the modern sense, 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 they were of Swedish birth. At the introduction of absolutism, Charles XI had the equivalent organ named as Royal Council (Swedish: Kungligt råd). In the Age of Liberty, the medieval name was reused, but after the bloodless revolution of Gustav III, the old organ was practically abolished.

The 1809 Instrument of Government, created a Council of State, also known as the King in Council (Swedish: Konungen i Statsrådet) which became the constitutionally mandated cabinet where the King had to make all state decisions in the presence of his cabinet ministers (Swedish: Statsråd). Throughout the 19th century and reaching its culmination with the enactment of the 1974 Instrument of Government, this new Council gradually transformed into an executive cabinet of ministers known as The Government (Swedish: Regeringen), chaired and formed by the Prime Minister who since 1975 is elected by the Riksdag, and which governs the Realm independently of a purely ceremonial monarch.