Charles XIII: The Madman of the North?

From his childhood Charles XII of Sweden dreamed of being a second Alexander the Great, to the extent that, when questioned about why he would want to emulate a king who died in his early thirties, he is reported to have said: ‘Is not that enough, when one has conquered Kingdoms?’ Charles certainly enjoyed conquering and war – he was rumoured to have slept in his boots – and made sure that both he and Sweden were taken notice of in the foreign press, particularly in Britain, whose burgeoning print trade was taking off during Charles’ exploits in the Great Northern War. The twisting plots and fortunes of Charles’ adventures led to the rise and fall of the king’s own reputation as well as providing excellent copy for a public with an insatiable appetite for foreign news. By the end of his reign he was seen less as Alexander and increasingly as the unhinged ‘Madman of the North’.