Karl or Charles XII 1682-1718
King of Sweden from 1697, one of Sweden's greatest warrior kings

Karl was the son and successor of Karl XI and Ulrika Eleonora 'the Elder' of Denmark. He assumed the throne at the age of 15, having been declared of age. In 1700 the Great Northern War broke out, with a joint invasion of Swedish territory by Denmark and Saxony. Karl initially had no desire for war himself, but when Russia joined the alliance later in the year he counter-attacked by invading Denmark, forcing them to sue for peace. He defeated a Russian army at Narva, and in the following year gained a costly victory over the Saxons on the river Dvina. Next he defeated the Saxons at Kliszow in 1702, and dethroned King Augustus II of Poland in 1704 in favour of his ally Stanislaw Leszczynski. His victories were consolidated at the Peace of Altanstr�dt in 1706.

Karl's grand design for total Swedish dominion of the Baltic was not realized. A surprise invasion of Russia in 1707, although he almost captured the tsar, Peter I, the Great, resulted in a heavy defeat at Poltava in June 1709. The Swedish army surrendered and Karl escaped. Later that year he made an incognito journey across half of Europe, covering 1,250 miles (2,000km) on horseback in 15 days to the Baltic port of Stralsund. Cornered thereby a ring of enemies for a year, he escaped in December 1715 to Lund in Sweden, 15 years after he had left his homeland.

Undaunted, he raised a new army to keep the Russians at bay, and in 1716 launched a preliminary attack on Norway. He now formed an ambitious plan: he would be given freedom by Russia to conquer Norway in exchange for the Baltic provinces of Sweden, and then land in Scotland to put the Jacobite James Edward Stuart, the 'Old Pretender', on the British throne. But having made his treaty with the Russians and invaded Norway again in 1718, he was shot dead at the siege of the border fortress of Fredriksten, near Frederikshald.

A man of great ability, circumstances had made him a military adventurer, and by the end of his life he had become a futile victim of his own glittering legend. He died unmarried, and was succeeded by his younger sister, Queen Ulrika Eleonora.

Bibliography: R H Hatton, Charles XII of Sweden (1968); Frans G Bengtsson, Karl XII (1935-36, Eng trans The Life of Charles XII, 1960).