Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - XV. Reign of Adolph Frederick, 1751–1771 - A. Attempted Coup d’Etat by the Court
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Attempt at Revolution 269
ture everything to secure greater power for the king
that is, for the queen.
Attempts of the King to Disregard the Council At
first the king tried to assume the power to decide mat-
ters which the council claimed the sole power to decide.
Then he tried to nullify the decisions of the council
by refusing to sign them. The queen fed the flame of
discord to the best of her ability. Both the king and
the council appealed to the Estates to settle the ques-
tion. The Estates, meeting in 1755, sided with the
council and ordered that if the king refused his signa-
ture to their decisions, the council was authorized to
attach it by means of a stamp.
Efforts of the Court to Win the Peasants. At the
Riksdag the king and queen attempted to secure the
support of the peasants. Members of that Estate were
treated to refreshments by the court party and ’some
were invited to meetings with the king. One peasant,
for instance, boasted that he had been at the palace
and been treated to wine, had sat on a fine upholstered
chair, and had been offered snuff out of the king’s own
snuffbox. But these efforts resulted in failure and the
humiliation of the peasants.
Extreme Measures of the Estates. The Estates took
pleasure in showing the king, and especially the proud
queen, that supreme power rested with them. So they
undertook to discharge the excellent tutors of Prince
Gustav simply because they were friends of the king
and queen, and then forced upon the prince teachers
whom the royal family could not tolerate. The sensi-
tive little prince took the separation from his beloved
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