[citation needed] 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 "Tulit kreivin aikaan" ("You arrived at the perfect moment").

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 between 1831 and 1855, Prince Menshikov, sojourned his entire term in St Petersburg, being simultaneously the Russian minister of navy.