When Sovereignty shifted from Kings and Nobility to 'the people' with the birth of Nationalism, this was problematic for the definition of the people. The 'Divine Right of Kings' put the Monarch above the people. Nobility had 'blue blood' and marriages were a way of building Kingdoms. A class above. Elizabeth I, whose blue veins gave an artist difficulty painting a life-like picture, died without issue. This joined the English & Scottish throne under the personal union of James I and VI in 1603. The Danish, Norwegian and Swedish crowns were joined in a personal union called the 'Kalmar Union' from 1397-1523. There was a struggle between the Monarch who wanted union and the nobles who preferred local power. The Union was in part to counter the strength of the Hanseatic League - a confederation of commercial merchant guilds and market towns. After the Kalmar Union, Sweden was in Union with Norway from 1814-1905. It started by force, but ended in a peaceful divorce. Sweden joined the European Union in 1995, but isn't part of the Eurozone.
Blue Blood Elizabeth I
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