Court yard speech

King Gustav V during the speech

The court yard speech (Swedish: Borggårdstalet) was a speech written by conservative explorer Sven Hedin and senior general Carl Bennedich and delivered by king Gustav V to the participants of the Peasant armament support march. The speech sparked a governmental crisis in Sweden in February 1914.

Context

The speech was a part in the organized expressions of Swedish conservatives who criticized the liberal prime minister Karl Staaff's decision to cut down on military defense. Particularly the decision not to proceed with the building of a coastal battleship (then known as the "F-ship", which later became the Sverige class coastal defence ship) that had been decided upon by the previous right wing government headed by Arvid Lindman. In the years leading up to World War I, modernization of navies and introduction of "Dreadnought"-style heavy warships stood at the forefront of military spending in many countries, and this issue generally received a lot of public attention.

The making of the speech

The speech was written by Sven Hedin and a senior general Carl Bennedich, well before the date of the planned oppositional Peasant armament support march. The speech was reviewed by several members of the political elite before delivered. Hedin showed the speech to then under parliament chairman, and later conservative prime minister Ernst Trygger, who considered the speech to be brilliant, even though he was not sure what the political consequences would be if the speech was delivered by the king. Both Liberal politician previous prime minister Arvid Lindman and later liberal prime minister Louis de Geer thought that the speech could lead to a governmental crisis. The prime minister at the time however, Karl Staaff was not allowed to see the speech on beforehand. The speech was read by king Gustav V on the inner court yard of the royal palace as the protestors of the support march had reached the palace. For those of the 30'000 march participants who could not fit the inner court yard, the speech was immediately reread by crown prince Gustav Adolf and prince Carl.