Hats (party)

Those opposed to this peaceful policy derisively nicknamed his adherents "Night-caps", and these epithets became party badges when the estates met in 1738.

France welcomed the rise of a Swedish government which would uphold French interests in northern Europe, and Versailles generously financed the Hat party for the next two generations.

Negotiations were opened with the Russian empress, Elizabeth of Russia, who agreed to restore the greater part of Finland to Sweden if her heir's uncle, Adolph Frederick of Holstein, were elected successor to the Swedish crown.

By the Treaty of Åbo, on 7 May 1743, the terms of the empress were accepted and only a small part which lay beyond the Kymi river, often called Old Finland, was retained by Russia.

Against a backdrop of Russian encroachment, King Gustav III carried out a coup d'etat in 1772 and moved towards an absolute monarchy.