ånsdotter instead, a commoner. This was unheard of ! In those days, royals married each other, or at least someone from higher nobility. Marriage was a part of the power game, a method to forge alliances. When King Erik took a commoner as queen everyone turned against him, including his brothers who ousted him in a coup and imprisoned him in some of the royal castles, where he later died. According to legend he was murdered by being served poisoned pea soup, but this has never been proven.</p>
<p><img alt="Ahrvid_Royal_Armoury 2" src="/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Ahrvid_Royal_Armoury-2-225x300.jpg"/></p>
<p>If you go to Wikipedia or other sources, there’s a lot to learn about the power struggles during the turbulent times of Elizabeth and Erik. Or you can pay a visit to the Royal Armoury, if you happen to come to Stockholm. What we learn is that events similar to the fiction of &#8220;Game of Thrones&#8221; have also taken place in real history: battles, coups, power marriages, executions, assassinations, conspiracies, ruthlessness, love and hate.<br/>
And the Royal Armoury is worth a visit also for other reasons. They have the Swedish crown jewels and the actual clothes three Swedish kings were killed in!</p>
<p><a href="/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Ahrvid_UniformSwKingCharlesXIIAsHeWasShot1718.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-3823" alt="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" src="/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Ahrvid_UniformSwKingCharlesXIIAsHeWasShot1718-141x300.jpg" width="141" height="300"/></a></p>
<p>We can see the outfit worn by king Gustavus Adolphous as he fell in the battle of Lutzen in 1632, during the Thirty Years War in Germany. And the uniform worn by king Charles XII as he was hit by a bullet in the head, during the siege of the Fredrikshald fortress in Norway in 1718. And finally the dress worn by king Gustav III as he was assassinated during a masquerade at the Royal Opera in 1792. I wouldn’t be surprised if of the suit and coat worn by prime minister Palme, as he was murdered in 1986, later turns up on display. (It is still kept as material evidence in the totally failed police investigation.) Sweden has a long and surprising history of national leaders being killed.</p>
<p><a href="/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Ahrvid_StuffedHorseStreiffOfSwKingGustavusAdolphus.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-3819" alt="Ahrvid_StuffedHorseStreiffOfSwKingGustavusAdolphus" src="/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Ahrvid_StuffedHorseStreiffOfSwKingGustavusAdolphus-200x300.jpg" width="200" height="300" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Ahrvid_StuffedHorseStreiffOfSwKingGustavusAdolphus-200x300.jpg 200w, /wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Ahrvid_StuffedHorseStreiffOfSwKingGustavusAdolphus.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px"/></a></p>
<p>If you don’t think blood-stained royal dresses are worth a look, you can also study king Gustavus Adolphous’ horse named “Streiff”, which survived the battle. It stands there. Stuffed.</p>
<p><strong>©Ahrvid Engholm</strong></p>
<p><img alt="Ahrvid_Throne" src="/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Ahrvid_Throne.gif"/></p>
<p><strong>The Royal Armoury’s</strong> English pages:</p>
<p><a href="http://livrustkammaren.se/en">http://livrustkammaren.se/en</a></p>
<p><strong>The press picture collection for &#8220;Power Games&#8221;</strong>:<br/>
<a href="http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/livrustkammaren/latest_media/tag/maktspel-foeremaal">http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/livrustkammaren/latest_media/tag/maktspel-foeremaal</a></p>
<p><strong>About the stuffed Streiff</strong>:<br/>
<a href="http://dariocaballeros.blogspot.se/2014/01/lion-of-north-and-his-horses-streiff.html">http://dariocaballeros.blogspot.se/2014/01/lion-of-north-and-his-horses-streiff.html</a></p>
<p><strong>Pics©courtesy of Ahrvid Engholm, Royal Armoury, HBO</strong></p>
<p><img alt="Ahrvid Engholm" src="/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Ahrvid-Engholm.jpg"/></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?24430">Ahrvid Engholm</a></strong> is a swedish author, editor, journalist and SF fan.</p>
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