TESSIN, CARL GUSTAF, GREVE

(Count) born Sept. 5, 1695, Stockholm died Jan. 7, 1770, ker, Swed. Swedish court official, statesman, and writer who was a founder of the 18th-century parliamentary Hat Party and an influential adviser to the court of Adolf Frederick. Carl Tessin was the son of the architect and court superintendent Nicodemus Tessin the Younger. He was educated in France and Italy and in the 1720s entered the Swedish diplomatic service. In 1728 he succeeded his father as court superintendent. A founder of the anti-Russian Hat Party, he wanted to regain the provinces lost to Russia during the Great Northern War (170021). In 1738 his party gained a parliamentary majority, and he was elected speaker of the noble chamber and, thus, of the whole parliament. He attempted unsuccessfully to prevent a disastrous war with Russia in 1741. In 1744 he gained the favour of the future king Adolf Frederick (reigned 175171) and his wife Louisa Ulrica; he persuaded Adolf to renounce his hereditary claims in Schleswig and Holstein and thus eased Sweden's relations with Denmark. In 1746 he was appointed tutor to the future king Gustav III and head of the state chancellery. In the early 1750s, however, he lost the Queen's favour and left public life. Tessin was also an accomplished poet and writer of fables and letters.