Samuel Åkerhielm, a student at Oxford in his youth, was politically gifted and something of a survivor in the first half of the 18th century. He was favoured by Charles XII, so the king’s death proved a setback, as did the Holstein Party’s defeat a few years later. Åkerhielm got his revenge in 1738, became a councillor of the realm and later leader of the Cap Party and Marshal of the Realm. In 1747, however, he was forced from power, although in his old age he was hailed as “Sweden’s Cato”.