The Apple podcast title, The Deep Dive, decoding
Swedish knighthood, phalaristics and the 20 year
metal crusade of Jonas Arnell. Join us on this
deep dive into the fascinating, hyper news world
of phalaristics and heraldry. We explore the
Wikipedia biography of Jonas Arnell, the Swedish
herald who spent 20 years lobbying parliament
to restore Sweden's historic royal orders of
knighthood. Discover how one man's passion for
medals and chivalric orders shaped national tradition
and overturned the 1975 orders reform. If you
love deep dives into hidden histories, royal
decorations, and stories of relentless dedication,
this conversation is for you. Tune in to learn
about the Order of the Seraphim, the Order of
Vasa, and what it means to be a modern -day herald.
Welcome to the deep dive. We are so thrilled
to have you with us today. Absolutely. Thrilled
you're here. For this particular session, we
are decoding Swedish knighthood. The intricacies
of a field called phalaristics, and what I can
really only describe as the 20 -year crusade
of a man named Jonas Arnell. It really is a crusade.
It is. And if you follow the world of heraldry
or state honors, you probably know how rigid
these institutions can be. Very rigid. Right.
But today we're looking specifically at the Wikipedia
biography of Jonas Arnell, a fascinating Swedish
figure born in 1969, just to understand exactly
how he navigated that rigidity. Yeah. So the
mission of our deep dive today is to explore
how a deeply specific passion Specifically, the
study of medals, orders, and coats of arms can
actually rewrite national policy. Which is wild
to think about. And actively preserve a country's
historical continuity. It's an incredibly rich
topic because we so often think of history as
something that just, well, it just happens to
us. Right, like we're just observers. Exactly.
We look at national traditions, systems of honors,
state policies, and we assume there are these
massive immovable monoliths decided by anonymous
committees behind closed doors. They usually
are. But what this source material proves is
that a single individual's relentless decade
-long dedication to a seemingly archaic subject.
It can literally alter a country's entire system
of recognition. It's amazing. It demonstrates
that an individual with enough procedural knowledge
and just sheer persistence, they can reach right
into the machinery of the state and change its
course. Okay, let's unpack this. Because to really
understand how monumental this shift was, we
have to look at the foundational background of
the man himself, Jonas Henry Arnell. Let's do
it. Born in Örebro, Sweden and raised in Eskilstuna,
he builds a very solid, highly educated foundation.
You're grounded. Right. He earns a Bachelor of
Education from Linköping University and later
a Master of Science from Umeå University. Which
is important because... He isn't born into the
ancient nobility. Right. He's building a modern
academic grounding. Precisely. And looking at
his professional background, what really stands
out is this incredibly contemporary career path.
Yeah, he wasn't locked in an ivory tower. No,
not at all. From 1995 to 2014, he works in the
fields of education, research and culture. Real
institutional work. Exactly. And most notably,
he serves as a political advisor in the parliament
chancery of the Christian Democrats. OK. Then
he pivots slightly. Between 2015 and 2023, he
works in the defense sector. I saw that. The
sources note he spent most of that time as the
deputy secretary general for the Swedish Sergers
Homes Association. Wow. So you have a man who
deep understands the inner workings of government,
parliamentary procedure, and defense administration.
He has this very structured, respectable day
job. Very much so. But while he's navigating
the halls of parliament and the defense sector
by day, he has this true burning passion running
in the background. His secret identity. Like
a superhero. Because since 1990, Arnell has been
deeply committed to failureistics. Right. And
as you know from following this field, studying
the history and cataloging of honors, medals,
and decorations, it requires requires an intense
level of meticulousness. By 1998, he wasn't just
casually collecting. He had become a recognized
writer and lecturer on the subject, both in Sweden
and internationally. What's fascinating here
is that these two worlds, his day job in the
bureaucratic heart of Swedish politics and his
hyper -niche expertise and to spectacularly collide.
I love this part. Because being a failurestition
of Arnell's caliber isn't just about archiving
old pieces of metal or analyzing ribbon widths.
Right. It's not just a dusty hobby. No. One of
his primary goals, as noted in the text, was
to actively support and promote genuine orders
of chivalry. He was not content to be a passive
historian. He wanted them alive. He was an active
champion for the preservation of these living
traditions. And in Sweden, there was a massive
systemic roadblock standing in his way. Here's
where it gets really interesting. We have to
talk about the infamous Swedish orders reform
of 1975. The big one. Yeah. If you are familiar
with the history of European heraldry, you know
this event is practically viewed as a cataclysm.
Absolutely. The source details exactly what this
reform did and it is a massive shift in national
identity. The 1975 reform took Sweden's highest
honors and essentially locked them away from
the Swedish people. It's wild. It reserved the
legendary Order of the Seraphim and the Order
of the Polar Star strictly for foreign citizens
and stateless persons. And it went even further
than that. Tell them. The reform put the Order
of the Sword and the Order of Vasa completely
dormant. Just dormant, shut down. Yes. Let's
synthesize the impact of that for a moment. The
Order of the Seraphim is Sweden's foremost order.
historically awarded to heads of state and the
absolute highest officials. Right. The Order
of Vasa instituted in 1772 was incredibly culturally
significant because it was designed to reward
citizens for contributions to agriculture, mining,
commerce, and the arts. The things that built
the country. The very things that built modern
Sweden. In 1975, the state essentially severed
a living connection to its own history. A sweeter
citizen could do something absolutely extraordinary
for their country, but they could no longer be
recognized with the seraphim or the vasa. Right.
They just packed these centuries -old traditions
away in the historical attic. Perfectly said.
For a fail -restition like Arnel, who understands
the profound symbolic weight of these honors,
this wasn't just an administrative update. It
was a profound cultural loss. But he didn't just
sit around and complain about it in niche academic
journals. In 1999, Jonas Arnell launched a grassroots
lobbying campaign. On his own. On his own. He
started firing off highly detailed emails to
members of the Swedish parliament, demanding
that they undo the 1975 reform and bring those
orders back to life for Swedish citizens. And
you really have to appreciate the strategic approach
here. Oh, totally. Most people who email their
local politicians about a niche historical grievance,
they're easily ignored. Straight to the spam
folder. Exactly. But Arnell approached this differently.
He wasn't just complaining. He was writing incredibly
detailed, procedurally sound arguments. Which
politicians actually respond to. And the source
material reveals a brilliant piece of irony here.
This very lobbying campaign actually contributed
to him securing his subsequent employment at
the Parliament Chancery of the Christian Democrats.
I love that detail. It is such a fantastic detail.
It's the ultimate. hire the person who won't
stop emailing you because they actually know
the bureaucratic machinery better than you do
move. It really is. He advocated so effectively
and clearly demonstrated such a deep understanding
of parliamentary procedure that it helped land
him a job right in the center of the political
action. Right in the chancery. But did getting
that insider job mean his crusade was over? Not
even close. Not even close. The source highlights
a level of perseverance that is just staggering.
Staggering is the exact right word, because when
we look at the timeline, we are not talking about
a quick legislative victory. No. For almost 20
years, Arnell kept this issue alive in the face
of near total institutional apathy. 20 years.
He drafted formal motions for various Christian
Democratic MPs to present in Parliament. He did
this from 1999 to 2001, then again from 2004
to 2007, then from 2009 to 2011, and again in
2014. Just imagine the emotional weight of that.
It's heavy. You draft a meticulously researched
motion. You find an MP willing to present it.
It goes to the floor and it fails because a majority
vote just isn't there. Yeah. Then you wake up
and you do it all over again. year after year,
for a policy most of the public had completely
forgotten about. It would be so easy to just
accept the 1975 reform as permanent. If we connect
this to the bigger picture, this is an absolute
master class in playing the long game in politics
and advocacy. Absolutely. The source notes that
none of those individual motions carried at the
time, but that wasn't a failure in the grand
scheme. Why not? Because the text points out
that these recurring motions were a calculated
way to keep life in the matter. By forcing the
parliament to repeatedly discuss and vote on
the issue, Arnell ensured that the dormant orders
were never truly finalized as dead. He built
a bridge. He built a bridge across two decades
of institutional inertia. He maintained the atmospheric
pressure until the political climate finally
shifted enough for a formal awards reform to
take place. That level of patience is so rare.
And while he was fighting this 20 -year bureaucratic
battle in the halls of parliament, he was also
busy building up the structural foundation of
the community from the outside. Building his
base. Right, he was translating his passion into
real institutional power. In 2017, he didn't
just join a club. He was one of three people
who took the initiative to found the Swedish
Phalaristics Association. Yes. He was simultaneously
working top down in the political sphere and
bottom up in the cultural sphere. That's a great
way to put it. Building the Phalaristics Association
created an organized body of experts, giving
the entire discipline more weight. And his rise
in the international community perfectly mirrors
that domestic institution building. You went
global. He did. By 2020, he was elected as a
member of the International Commission for Orders
of Chivalry. This isn't just a local historical
society. It's a global acknowledgement of his
authority on the subject. Which perfectly sets
the stage for his transition from the outside
lobbyist to the inside rulemaker. It does. Because
according to the source, on January 1st, 2023,
Jonas Arnell officially became the Herald. at
the Chancery of the Swedish Royal Orders of Knighthood.
The official herald. The official herald. Before
that, from 2018 to 2022, he had served as an
amanuensis there. Right. Now for those listening
who might not deal with these specific bureaucratic
titles every day, an amanuensis is essentially
a highly skilled academic or bureaucratic assistant,
the person keeping the meticulous records. Yes.
But stepping into the role of the official Herald,
that is a massive paradigm shift. It really is.
The Herald is effectively the ultimate gatekeeper
of the nation's chivalric visual and ceremonial
history. That's a huge responsibility. It requires
an encyclopedic knowledge of not just who gets
what medal, but the exact heraldic rules governing
coats of arms, crests, and ceremonial protocols.
The guy who spent 20 years writing emails and
drafting motions to bring the royal orders back
from the dead is now the person sitting in the
chancery overseeing their administration. That
is just poetic. And we definitely shouldn't overlook
his parallel work in heraldry, because as you
mentioned, it goes hand in hand with felleristics.
They're completely intertwined. The source notes
he served as the Herald Pursuivant for the Swedish
Heraldry Association from 2002 to 2008. He was
elected a member of the Heraldic Society in 2004.
And he's had multiple stints on the editorial
board for the publication Vappenbilden. Yes.
Which is a cornerstone publication for Heraldic
research in Sweden. His current term on that
board started in 2023. So he understands the
visual language of these honors just as deeply
as the political mechanics behind them. It is
a profound shift in status. He went from lobbying
the rule makers to literally writing the rule
books. You can see this authority formalized
in his recent publications. The source lists
two major works he edited for the Royal Orders
of Knighthood. In 2024, he published When and
How Should Decorations Be Worn, and in 2025,
Regulations Concerning the Royal Orders of Knighthood.
He is now the one responsible for codifying and
preserving the very traditions he fought to save.
And his foundation for that knowledge was laid
decades ago. When you look at his bibliography,
back in 2006, he was already writing the definitive
sections on the Order of the Seraphim, the Order
of the Sword, the Order of the Polar Star, and
the Order of Vasa for the massive world orders
of knighthood and merit encyclopedia. He literally
wrote the book on them. He was documenting the
history of these orders while simultaneously
fighting in parliament. to ensure they actually
had a future. Exactly. His deep academic knowledge
base was the invisible architecture that eventually
supported his very public political success.
You cannot successfully lobby to restore a centuries
-old tradition if you cannot articulate exactly
what that tradition is and why it matters. Which
brings us to perhaps the most satisfying part
of this entire discussion. There's a wonderful,
beautiful irony at play here. Oh, there is. The
man who has spent his entire adult life studying
medals, writing about decorations, and fighting
for orders of knighthood, he has an absolute
chest full of them himself. He certainly does.
And the list provided in the source material
is both impressive and surprisingly diverse.
Let's hear it. Naturally, he has been recognized
extensively within Sweden. In 2015, he received
the Royal Patriotic Society's large medal in
gold. This was specifically awarded for significant
acts and recognized his 25 years as a failurestition.
That is a substantial domestic honor. And it
continued as his career peaked. Following his
elevation to herald, he was awarded King Carl
XVI Gustav's Jubilee Commemorative Medal IV in
gold in September 2023. Yes. He also received
the Swedish Numismatic Society's Medal of Merit
in silver that exact same year. But what is truly
revealing is that his recognition doesn't stop
at the Swedish border. Not at all. When the Finnish
state visited in April 2024, he was made a Knight
of the Order of the White Rose of Finland. He
holds the Cross of Merit with Silver Star of
the Order of the Holy Sepulcher, which he received
back in 2017. Amazing. He's a fellow of the Society
of Sciences in Lund, and as of 2024, he was elected
a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
I have to admit, my absolute favorite honor on
his resume, the one that highlights just how
wild the global network of historical honors
can be, is the geographical leap to the United
States. Oh, this is great. Since 2013, he has
been an associate companion of the military order
of the loyal legion of the United States. And
as of 2023, Jonas Arnell, the Swedish herald,
the man deeply embedded in the ancient chivalric
traditions of European monarchy, is an official
Kentucky colonel. It sounds absurd on the surface,
but it actually highlights something very special.
Deep, genuine expertise transcends borders. It
really does. The Commission of Kentucky, Colonel,
is the highest title of honor bestowed by the
Governor of Kentucky, given for outstanding service
and accomplishments. Arnell's profound knowledge
of historical orders didn't just earn him domestic
praise. It earned him the respect of ancient
societies in Scotland, religious orders in Jerusalem,
and historical military associations in the United
States. It's the universal language of tradition
and merit. When you become the preeminent expert
in a field, even a highly specialized one like
Philoristics, the global community of scholars
and institutions takes notice. Absolutely. The
fact that a Swedish royal official is also recognized
in Kentucky is a testament to how interconnected
this world of historical preservation really
is. It also speaks to the respect he commands
among his peers globally. He isn't just a Swedish
bureaucrat. He's viewed internationally as a
guardian of a very specific, very fragile type
of human heritage. So what does this all mean?
Yeah. If we step back and look at the entire
narrative we've traced today, we followed the
life of a man who took an incredibly niche passion
and refused to let it remain just a hobby. Refused.
He lobbied a national parliament for two decades,
enduring years of failed motions and institutional
inertia just to keep the conversation alive.
20 years of pushing. He worked his way from an
outside agitator firing off emails, to a political
advisor, to an amanuances, and finally to the
official herald of the Swedish royal orders.
He helped overturn the 1975 reform and literally
brought a piece of history back to life for his
country's citizens. Incredible. I want to say
this directly to you listening. If you ever feel
like your own interests or areas of expertise
are too obscure, let Jonas Arnell be your inspiration.
Definitely. absolute unwavering dedication to
a niche doesn't just make you an expert. It could
eventually make you a national institution. This
raises an important question, though, and it's
a fascinating philosophical angle to consider.
What's that? We've spent this time discussing
Arnell's fight to preserve physical metals, ribbons,
and ancient coats of arms. But look at our modern
digital landscape. Today we are obsessed with
gamification. We constantly strive for digital
badges on our profiles, verified checkmarks and
achievement trophies in our apps. That's very
true. It makes you wonder. The 1975 reform tried
to modernize Sweden by stripping away its historic
knighthoods for citizens, but Arnell's crusade
brought them back. While we often view historical
knighthoods and physical medals as archaic relics
of a bygone era, hasn't the digital age proven
that the fundamental human psychological need
for visible, hierarchical recognition remains
completely unchanged? Wow. In our modern rush
to democratize and streamline our institutions,
what valuable traditions, symbols, and methods
of recognizing true merit are we hastily tossing
out, only to realize decades later that we actually
need them? Perhaps Arnell wasn't just preserving
the past. He was safeguarding deeply ingrained
human mechanism for acknowledging merit, one
that we are desperately trying to replicate today
through pixels instead of gold. That is a brilliant
connection and the absolute perfect thought to
leave you with today. Whether it's a centuries
-old gold medal or a digital badge on your profile,
our need to be recognized and to recognize others
is beautifully human. Thank you so much for joining
us on this deep exploration into the world of
Jonas Arnell, the Swedish royal orders, and the
power of persistence. Keep digging into the history
around you, and we'll see you next time.