Governor-General of Finland

The governor-general of FinlandTemplate:Efn was the military commander and the highest administrator of Finland sporadically under Swedish rule in the 17th and 18th centuries and continuously in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland between 1809 and 1917.

Swedish realm

File:Coat of arms of Finland under Swedish rule.svg

Coat of arms of Finland under Swedish rule

After the final abolition of the Duchy of Finland and related feudal privileges in the late 16th century, the king of Sweden sporadically granted most or all of Finland under a specially appointed governor-general, who took care of the matters in the eastern part of the country more or less according to his own best judgement.Template:Cn

The best-known of these officials is Count Per Brahe the Younger, who served as Governor-General of Finland in the 17th century. His tenure, remembered as a period of reforms and progress in both economy and education, is referred to in Finnish as "kreivin aika" ("the count's era"). Over the centuries, the phrase has taken on a new meaning and is now commonly used to describe something happening just in time, as in the expression "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" ("You arrived at the perfect moment").<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

List of Swedish governors-general of Finland

Translation in Template:Langx

Governor-general		In office
File:Porträtt. Nils Bielke - Skoklosters slott - 87271.tif	Nils Turesson Bielke	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Gabriel Bengtsson Oxenstierna SP081.jpg	Gabriel Bengtsson Oxenstierna	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Porträtt. Per Brahe d.y. Beck - Skoklosters slott - 13452.tif	Per Brahe the Younger	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Porträtt. Gustav Horn - Skoklosters slott - 87194.tif	Gustaf Evertsson Horn	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Herman Klaunpoika Fleming.jpg	Template:Ill	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	Carl Nieroth	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Gustav Otto Douglas.jpg	Gustaf Otto Douglas (during the Russian occupation in Great Northern War)	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Generalleutnant Balthasar Freiherr von Campenhausen.jpg	Template:Ill (during the Russian occupation in the War of 1741–1743)	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Gustaf Fredrik von Rosen.jpg	Template:Ill	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Grand Duchy of Finland

File:Coat of Arms of Grand Duchy of Finland-holding sabre.svg

Coat of arms of Finland under Russian rule

During the time when Finland was ruled by the Russian Empire as a grand duchy, the governor-general's position was permanent. He was viceroy of the emperor, who was not personally present in Helsinki, but resided in St Petersburg, just outside of Finnish borders. The governor-general was constitutionally the chairman of the Senate of Finland, the government in the autonomous grand duchy. The chairmanship he represented, with two votes in the Senate, belonged to the grand duke of Finland, a title held by the emperor of Russia. The governor-general was the highest representative of the emperor and received his instructions directly from the imperial government in Saint Petersburg.

Finnish citizenship was not required of the governor-general, contrary to all other highest positions such as senators and the minister-secretary of state. Most governors-general were Russians, men whom the emperor trusted as counterparts of potential Finnish separatism. Many of them, up to Baron Template:Ill, however were also made Finnish subjects, by granting them a Finnish nobility rank.

Many of the governors-general were disliked by the Finnish population. The first man on the post, Georg Magnus Sprengtporten, resigned after only a year. Another, Nikolai Bobrikov, was assassinated in 1904 by the Finnish nationalist Eugen Schauman. On the other hand, several governors-general worked in a way that guaranteed the Finnish autonomy in face of the interests of ministers of the imperial court.

The governor-general between 1831 and 1855, Prince Menshikov, sojourned his entire term in St Petersburg, being simultaneously the Russian minister of navy. Gubernatorial duties in Helsinki were cared for by the deputy governor-general. For most of the term, in that position was general Template:Ill.

List of Russian governors-general of Finland

Translation in Template:Langx

Governor-general		In office
File:Graf Sprengtporten.jpg	Göran Magnus Sprengtporten	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Barclay1829.jpg	Michael Barclay de Tolly	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Fabian F. von Steinheil.jpg	Fabian Steinheil	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Zakrevskiy Arseniy Andreevich.jpg	Arseny Zakrevsky	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Франц Крюгер - портрет князя А. С. Меншикова.jpg	Alexander Menshikov	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:PGRS 1 010 Berg - full.jpg	Friedrich Wilhelm Rembert von Berg	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Platon Rokasovskiy.jpg	Template:Ill	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Adlerbergnv.jpeg	Nikolay Adlerberg	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:RAUHALA(1921) p307 Kreivi F.L. Heiden.jpg	Feodor Logginovich Heiden	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Goncharov Stepan Osipovitch (1892).jpg	Template:Ill	1897–1898 (acting)Template:Cn
File:Nikolai Bobrikov.jpg	Nikolai Bobrikov	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Prince Ivan Mikh. Obolensky.jpeg	Ivan Obolensky	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Nikolay Gerard.jpg	Nikolai Gerard	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	Vladimir Aleksandrovich Böckmann	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Зейн Франц Александрович.jpg	Franz Albert Seyn	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	Template:Ill	1917 (acting)Template:Cn
File:Stahovich Mikhail Alexandrovich.jpg	Mikhail Aleksandrovich Stakhovich	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
File:Nikolay Vissarionovich Nekrasov.jpg	Nikolai Vissarionovich Nekrasov	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• Grand Duke of Finland
• Duke of Finland
• Diet of Finland
• Governor-General in the Swedish Realm
• Monarchy of Finland
• Finnish Minister Secretary of State
• List of Finnish rulers