As 1667 began, the Princess Consort became increasingly loved by Swedish nobles and commoners alike. Her easygoing, down-to-earth attitude, stemming from a less luxurious childhood than many after the Orangists became out of power, was very much loved by countless Swedes. Nonetheless, Gustav was still reluctant to hold the coronation. He believed that Maria deserved a proper coronation worthy for a Queen, but he did not wish to put an extra strain on the state budget, given t

In Copenhagen, King Frederik did genuinely consider an attack on Sweden in 1664, when King Gustav was hiding in Gripsholm with his children and the Swedish administration was dysfunctional. Nonetheless, disinterest from Berlin, coupled with a rather cold response by Louis XIV, forced Frederik to drop the plan. When he flirted with the idea again the next year, Gustav was already back in charge, and Paris became even less interested in subduing the Swedes. Nonetheless, Frederi

By 1666, the reparations by Copenhagen in the late 1650s were practically all spent by Stockholm. Much of it was used in daily government functioning, promoting education, and maintaining the military. The fact that the Stockholm Banco was failing meant the Swedish treasury was not exactly healthy either. The Banco was already unable to pay the holders of their banknotes in gold in 1664. That was solved when Gustav signed a decree in January 1665 to take over entirely and pay

With King Gustav back in picture, the Swedish legislation became much more functional as the year 1665 began. Meaningful bills were no longer vetoed just because Princess Kristina and Prince Karl could not reach a consensus. He also began reviving certain administrative plans that he was working on before Henrietta's death, with those being largely discarded following his prolonged absence. After all, the Swedish treasury did not benefit too much from the administrative mess

The disbanding of the majority of the Norwegian military, while greatly reducing Norwegian governmental expenses, inevitably brought much peril to the already fragile semi-independent nation in the meantime. The Copenhagen administration, under King Frederik, was originally worried about Norway's potential inability to pay taxes with financial ruin. Without a functional Norwegian military, it meant that Frederik could practically threatened Norway, by the use of arms, into pa