Agovernor-general (Swedish:generalguvernör) was appointed by theSwedish monarch as his permanent representative, with both civil and military jurisdiction, over parts ofSweden, from the 17th century to the early 19th century, when constitutional changes made the office obsolete. Agovernor-general was always appointed as the highest representative of the Swedish monarch in thedominions ruled, or thepossessions governed, by Sweden. Conquered, and unintegrated, territories were apart from this, more or less allowed to retain their internal political structure.
The termviceroy is better reserved for thestattholder, the representative of the Swedish monarch inNorway when that neighboring country was inpersonal union with Sweden, as it concerns a whole kingdom, and notably in the several cases where the incumbent was no lesser than the Swedish crown prince.
Governors-general could also be appointed over parts ofSweden proper, today'sSweden andFinland, and usually consisting of severalcounties in that part of the country, when circumstances so required. When this happened theroyal governor of each county would report to the governor-general instead of directly to the monarch or the Privy Council. A royal governor, regardless if whether under a governor-general or not, held the civil, but not the military, jurisdiction over his county. The governors-general were always members of thePrivy Council.
The list of governors-general given below is not complete. Some of those listed held the title of governor, not governor-general.
The following were the governors-general ofFinland:
The following were the governors-general ofIngria:
The following were the governors-general ofEstonia:
The following were the governors-general ofLivonia:
The following were the governors-general ofLithuania:
The following were the governors-general ofKarelia:
TheScanian Dominion (Swedish:Skånska Generalguvernementet), was established after theTreaty of Roskilde in 1658 and initially included all ofSkåneland. In 1660, Bornholm was returned to Denmark.Blekinge, which had been part ofKristianstad County while under the dominion, was removed in 1680 and placed underKalmar County. The dominion was suspended in 1670, but recreated during theScanian War. In 1675,Bohus County was added and it remained administered by the Scanian governors-general until 1693.Halland County was removed from the dominion in 1693 and for the periods 1693–1719 and 1801–1809, the dominion included the counties in the province ofScania only.[8]
The following were the governors-general of Scania:
The following were the governors-general of Scania (the province only):
The following were the governors-general ofPrussia:
The following were the governors-general ofPomerania:
The following were the governors-general ofBremen-Verden: