The Royal Court

King Opened Exhibition at Army Museum

H.M. the King at the opening of the exhibition at The Army Museum Photo: Henrik Montgomery/Scanpix

On December 4th The King opened The Army Museum´s new exhibition “Sveriges sista stora krig" (Sweden´s Last Great War), about the war of 1808-1809 and Sweden´s loss of Finland.

600 Years of Common History

In February of 1808 the Russians crossed the border into Finland. For more than 600 years the people of Sweden and Finland had live in the same state, lived under the same laws and fought and died together in the same wars. Now they fought together for the last time.
 
In 1809 Sweden lost Finland to Russia, where it became an autonomous Grand Duchy. The Russian tsar became a grand duke of Finland, and in Finland he was represented by a governor general.