The Minister for Foreign Affairs ( sv, utrikesminister) is the

foreign minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and the head of the

Ministry for Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateralism, bilateral, and multilateralism, multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citi ...

. The current Minister for Foreign Affairs is

Tobias Billström Tobias Lennart Billström (born 27 December 1973) is a Swedish politician of the Moderate Party. He has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Ulf Kristersson since 18 October 2022 and has been Member of the Riksdag since the ...

of the

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic liber ...

History

The office was instituted in 1809 as a result of the constitutional

Instrument of Government The Instrument of Government was a constitution of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. Drafted by Major-General John Lambert in 1653, it was the first sovereign codified and written constitution in England. Antecedence The '' ...

promulgated in the same year. Until 1876 the office was called Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs ( sv, statsminister för utrikes ärendena, commonly known as ''utrikesstatsminister''), similar to the office of

Prime Minister for Justice The Minister for Justice ( sv, justitieminister) is the justice minister of Sweden and head of the Ministry of Justice. The current Minister for Justice is Gunnar Strömmer of the Moderate Party. History The office was instituted in 1809 as a r ...

( sv, justitiestatsminister). The Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs initially served as head of the Cabinet of Foreign Mail Exchange at the Royal Office. Following the ministry reform in 1840, the Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs became head of the newly instituted

. In 1876 the office proper of

Prime Minister of Sweden The prime minister ( sv, statsminister ; literally translating to "Minister of State") is the head of government of Sweden. The prime minister and their cabinet (the government) exercise executive authority in the Kingdom of Sweden and are subj ...

was created and at the same time the Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs was nominally demoted to a mere Minister. The holder of the office did however continue to be styled as "Your excellency", until 1974 when the new

came into force. Before the parliamentary breakthrough in the early 20th century, that title had been granted exclusively to members of the most prominent

noble families Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characterist ...

Office holders

Prime Ministers for Foreign Affairs (1809–1876)

Ministers for Foreign Affairs (1876–present)

Parties Status

Statistics

References

External links

https://web.archive.org/web/20120506050731/http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/2059
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minister For Foreign Affairs (Sweden) Lists of political office-holders in Sweden Sweden diplomacy-related lists Lists of foreign ministers