The ministry is currently headed by the minister for foreign affairs, Maria Malmer Stenergard of the Moderate Party.

The organization that was formally named the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1840 was then created in practice.

Under Gustav Vasa, the chancellery developed into the body that handled and expedited government matters.

With Gustav II Adolf's reforms in the 1620s, a specialization was carried out within the chancellery so that foreign affairs were distributed among secretaries according to country.

More famous holders of this position are Axel Oxenstierna and Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie.