This is a list of monarchs and heads of state of Finland; that is, the kings of Sweden with regents and viceroys of the Kalmar Union, the grand dukes of Finland, a title used by most Swedish monarchs, up to the two-year regency following the independence in 1917, with a brief flirtation with a truly domestic monarchy.
Finland as an integral part of Sweden under the King of Sweden (Ruotsin kuningas).
Some texts suggest the Swedish rule of Finland started as early as during the Houses of Sverker and Eric (Sverker I of Sweden 1130–1156 and Eric the Saint 1156–1160). But the first historic documents suggesting rule by Swedish kings in Finland not limited to sparse crusades and conquests are dated at around 1249.
The Grand Duchy of Finland, a state ruled by the Russian Empire (1809–1917) with the Emperor of Russia as the Grand Duke of Finland (Suomen suurherttua).
During the interregnum from the fall of Nicholas II to the end of the Finnish Civil War in spring 1918, sovereignty in Finland was exercised by the Finnish Parliament and, until the October Revolution and the declaration of independence, the Russian interim government. After the civil war, regents (valtionhoitaja) were appointed by the parliament and a new king elected.
In May 1918, President Woodrow Wilson stated that the U.S. “shall be willing to recognize the Republic of Finland only when she shows that she is not controlled by Germany, as she now seems to be". [1]
Name | Portrait | Birth | Marriage(s) | Death | Claim |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fredrik Kaarle 9 October 1918 – 14 December 1918 (67 days) | ![]() | 1868 Prussia Son of Frederick William, Landgrave of Hesse and Princess Anna of Prussia | Princess Margaret of Prussia 1893 6 children | 28 May 1940 Kassel Aged 72 | King-elect of Finland |
The president of Finland is Finland's head of state. Under the Constitution of Finland, executive power is vested in the president and the government, with the president possessing limited powers.
National Progressive Party Agrarian League (Centre Party (1965–1988), Centre of Finland (from 1988)) National Coalition (National Coalition Party (1918–1951)) Social Democratic Party of Finland (Labour People's Party of Finland (1899–1903), Social Democratic Party in Finland (1903–1906))
Rank | Portrait | President (Birth–Death) | Elected | Took office | Left office | Political party (until election) | Birth and death |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg (1865–1952) | 1919 | 26 July 1919 | 2 March 1925 | National Progressive Party (Ed.) | b. 28 January 1865, Suomussalmi d. 22 September 1952, Helsinki |
Member of parliament (1908–1910, 1914–1918 and 1930–1933). Speaker of parliament (1914–1917). President of the Supreme Administrative Court (1918–1919). Elected as president by the parliament in 1919. | |||||||
2 | ![]() | Lauri Kristian Relander (1883–1942) | 1925 | 2 March 1925 | 2 March 1931 | Agrarian League (ML) | b. 31 May 1883, Kurkijoki d. 9 February 1942, Helsinki |
Member of parliament (1910–1914 and 1917–1920). Speaker of parliament (1919–1920). Governor of Viipuri Province (1920–1925). Elected as president by an electoral college in 1925. | |||||||
3 | ![]() | Pehr Evind Svinhufvud (1861–1944) | 1931 | 2 March 1931 | 1 March 1937 | National Coalition Party (Kok.) | b. 15 December 1861, Sääksmäki d. 29 February 1944, Luumäki |
Member of the Estate of Nobles in the Diet of Finland (1894 and 1899–1906). Member of parliament (1907–1917 and 1930–1931). Speaker of parliament (1907–1913). Regent (interim head of state) of Finland (1918). Prime Minister (1917–1918 and 1930–1931). Elected as president by an electoral college in 1931. | |||||||
4 | ![]() | Kyösti Kallio (1873–1940) | 1937 | 1 March 1937 | 19 December 1940 (died) | Agrarian League (ML) | b. 10 April 1873, Ylivieska d. 19 December 1940, Helsinki |
Member of parliament (1907–1937). Chairman of the Agrarian League (1909–1917). Minister of Agriculture (1919–1920 and 1921–1922). Speaker of parliament (1920–1921, 1922, 1924–1925, 1927–1928, 1929 and 1930–1936). Prime Minister (1922–1924, 1925–1926, 1929–1930 and 1936–1937). Elected as president by an electoral college in 1937. Announced resignation in 1940 because of poor health, but died in office. | |||||||
5 | ![]() | Risto Ryti (1889–1956) | 1940 1943 | 19 December 1940 | 4 August 1944 (resigned) | National Progressive Party (Ed.) | b. 3 February 1889, Huittinen d. 25 October 1956, Helsinki |
Member of parliament (1919–1924 and 1927–1929). Minister of Finance (1921–1922 and 1922–1924). Governor of the Bank of Finland (1923–1940 and 1944–1945). Prime Minister (1939–1940). Elected as president by the electoral college from 1937 in 1940 and re-elected in 1943 also by the electoral college from 1937. Resigned in 1944 due to the Ryti–Ribbentrop Agreement. | |||||||
6 | ![]() | Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (1867–1951) | 1944 | 4 August 1944 | 11 March 1946 (resigned) | Non-partisan | b. 4 June 1867, Askainen d. 27 January 1951, Lausanne, Switzerland |
Regent (interim head of state) of Finland (1918–1919). Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces (1939–1945). The only War Marshal and Marshal of Finland. Decreed as president in 1944 by an exception law. Resigned in 1946 because of poor health. Finland's only non-partisan president and the only president to die outside Finland. | |||||||
7 | ![]() | Juho Kusti Paasikivi (1870–1956) | 1946 1950 | 11 March 1946 | 1 March 1956 | National Coalition Party (Kok.) | b. 27 November 1870, Hämeenkoski d. 14 December 1956, Helsinki |
Member of parliament (1907–1909 and 1910–1914). Prime Minister (1918 and 1944–1946). Elected as president by the parliament in 1946 and re-elected by an electoral college in 1950. | |||||||
8 | ![]() | Urho Kekkonen (1900–1986) | 1956 1962 1968 1978 | 1 March 1956 | 27 January 1982 (resigned) | Agrarian League (ML) | b. 3 September 1900, Pielavesi d. 31 August 1986, Helsinki |
Member of parliament (1936–1956). Minister of Justice (1936–1937 and 1944–1946). Minister of the Interior (1937–1939 and 1950–1951). Speaker of parliament (1948–1950). Prime Minister (1950–1953 and 1954–1956). Elected as president by an electoral college in 1956 and re-elected in 1962, 1968 and 1978. In 1973, the term that started in 1968 was extended by four years by an exception law. Resigned in 1982 because of poor health. Served in the Finnish Civil War. | |||||||
9 | ![]() | Mauno Koivisto (1923–2017) | 1982 1988 | 27 January 1982 | 1 March 1994 | Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) | b. 25 November 1923, Turku d. 12 May 2017, Helsinki |
Minister of Finance (1966–1967 and 1972). Governor of the Bank of Finland (1968–1982). Prime Minister (1968–1970 and 1979–1982). Elected as president by an electoral college in 1982 and re-elected in 1988. The first president born in independent Finland. Served in the Continuation War of the World War II. | |||||||
10 | ![]() | Martti Ahtisaari (1937–2023) | 1994 | 1 March 1994 | 1 March 2000 | Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) | b. 23 June 1937, Viipuri d. 16 October 2023, Helsinki |
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations (1987–1991). Elected as president in 1994. The first president elected by direct popular vote. Nobel Peace Prize laureate 2008. Member of The Elders. | |||||||
11 | ![]() | Tarja Halonen (b. 1943) | 2000 2006 | 1 March 2000 | 1 March 2012 | Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) | b. 24 December 1943, Helsinki |
Member of parliament (1979–2000). Minister of Justice (1990–1991). Minister for Foreign Affairs (1995–2000). Elected as president in 2000 and re-elected in 2006. The first president subject to term limits. Finland's first female president. | |||||||
12 | ![]() | Sauli Niinistö (b. 1948) | 2012 2018 | 1 March 2012 | 1 March 2024 | National Coalition (Kok.) | b. 24 August 1948, Salo |
Member of parliament (1987–2003 and 2007–2011). Chairman of the National Coalition Party (1994–2001). Minister of Justice (1995–1996). Minister of Finance (1996–2003). Speaker of parliament in 2007–2011. Elected as president in 2012 and re-elected in 2018. | |||||||
13. | ![]() | Alexander Stubb (b. 1968) | 2024 | 1 March 2024 | Incumbent | National Coalition (Kok.) | b. 1 April 1968, Helsinki |
Member of the European parliament for Finland (2004–2008). Member of parliament (2011–2017). Leader of the National Coalition Party (2014–2016). Minister for Foreign Affairs (2008–2011). Minister for European Affairs and Trade (2011–2014). Prime Minister of Finland (2014–2015). Minister of Finance (2015–2016). Elected as president in 2024. |
The Kalmar Union was a personal union in Scandinavia, agreed at Kalmar in Sweden as designed by widowed Queen Margaret of Norway and Sweden. From 1397 to 1523, it joined under a single monarch the three kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, together with Norway's overseas colonies.
Gustav I, commonly known as Gustav Vasa, was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560, previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm (Riksföreståndare) from 1521, during the ongoing Swedish War of Liberation against King Christian II of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Gustav rose to lead the Swedish War of Liberation following the Stockholm Bloodbath, where his father was executed. Gustav's election as king on 6 June 1523 and his triumphant entry into Stockholm eleven days later marked Sweden's final secession from the Kalmar Union.
Magnus Ladulås or Magnus Birgersson,, was King of Sweden from 1275 until his death in 1290.
Christian I(Christiern I) was a German noble and Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union. He was king of Denmark (1448–1481), Norway (1450–1481) and Sweden (1457–1464). From 1460 to 1481, he was also duke of Schleswig and count of Holstein. He was the first king of the House of Oldenburg.
Sten Sture the Younger, was a Swedish nobleman who served as the regent of Sweden, during the era of the Kalmar Union.
Sten Sture the Elder was a Swedish statesman and regent of Sweden from 1470 to 1497 and again from 1501 to 1503. As the leader of the victorious Swedish separatist forces against the royal unionist forces during the Battle of Brunkeberg in 1471, he weakened the Kalmar Union considerably and became the effective ruler of Sweden as Lord Regent for most of his remaining life.
Karl Knutsson, occasionaly Charles II, posthumously also known as Charles VIII and called Charles I in Norwegian context, was king of Sweden and king of Norway (1449–1450).
Christina Nilsdotter Gyllenstierna of Fogelvik was a Swedish noblewoman. She was married to the Swedish regent Sten Sture the Younger, and led the Swedish resistance against Christian II of Denmark after the death of her spouse. In her own lifetime she was simply referred to as Fru Kristina, but she has become known in history as Kristina Gyllenstierna because of the house of nobility to which she belonged.
The House of Oldenburg is an ancient dynasty of German origin whose members rule or have ruled in Denmark, Iceland, Greece, Norway, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Livonia, Schleswig, Holstein, and Oldenburg. The current King of the United Kingdom and King of Norway are agnatic members of this house, meanwhile the King of Spain and King of Denmark are matrilineal members.
The Russo-Swedish War of 1495–1497, known in Sweden as the Stures' Russian War, was a border war which occurred between the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Kingdom of Sweden. Although the war was relatively short, and did not lead to any territorial changes, it has significance as the first war between Sweden and Moscow. Sweden earlier fought wars against the Novgorod Republic, before Novgorod was formally annexed to Moscow in 1478.
The Kingdom of Finland was a failed attempt to establish a monarchy in Finland in the aftermath of the Finnish Declaration of Independence from Russia in December 1917 and the Finnish Civil War from January–May 1918. The victorious Whites in the Parliament of Finland began the process of turning Finland into a kingdom and creating a monarchy. Although the country was legally a kingdom headed by a regent for over a year, the king-elect Friedrich Karl never reigned nor came to Finland following Germany's defeat in World War I. Republican victories in subsequent elections resulted in the country becoming a republic.
Duke of Finland was an occasional medieval title granted as a tertiogeniture to the relatives of the King of Sweden between the 13th and 16th centuries. It included a duchy along with feudal customs, and often represented a veritably independent principality. Grand Duke of Finland was a nominal royal title used by Swedish monarchs from the 1580s until 1720, which was revived again briefly from 1802 to 1805 and was also used by Russia's monarchs until 1917.
Bishop Benedict, Duke of Finland was a Swedish prelate bishop and duke.
The Fief of Viborg (1320–1534) was for two centuries a late medieval fief in the southeastern border of Finland and the entire Swedish realm. It was held by its chatelain, a fief-appointed feudal lord.
Martha Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud, known as Kung Märta, was a politically-active Swedish noblewoman. She was the sister of Queen Margaret Leijonhufvud and sister-in-law of King Gustav I of Sweden: she was also the maternal aunt of Queen Catherine Stenbock and the daughter-in-law of the regent Christina Gyllenstierna. In 1568, she financed the deposition of King Eric XIV of Sweden, which placed her nephew John III of Sweden on the throne.
In Swedish and Finnish history, Finland under Swedish rule is the historical period when the bulk of the area that later came to constitute Finland was an integral part of Sweden. The starting point of Swedish rule is uncertain and controversial. Historical evidence of the establishment of Swedish rule in Finland exists from the middle of the 13th century onwards.
Events from the year 1528 in Sweden