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
-niche 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 metals, 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. Oh, I saw that.
The sources note he spent most of that time as
the deputy secretary general for the Swedish
Surgers 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 phalaristics.
Right. And as you know from following this field,
studying the history and cataloging of honors,
medals, and decorations, it requires... 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 in phalaristics, they
were about... to spectacularly collide. I love
this part. Because being a philoristician 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 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. They 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 Swedish 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 phalaristician like Arnell,
who understands the profound symbolic weight
of these honors, this wasn't just an administrative
update. It was a profound... Cultural loss. Yes.
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
masterclass 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, Arnel 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. He 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 phalaristics.
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 Vapenbilden. 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 rulemakers
to literally writing the rulebooks. 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. Yeah. 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 is a wonderful, beautiful irony at play
here. Oh, there is. The man who has spent his
entire adult life studying metals, 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 philoristician. That is a substantial domestic
honor. And it continued as his career peaked.
Following his elevation to herald, he was awarded
King Karl 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 Sepulchre,
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've 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 amanuensis 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 can 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
check marks 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. Wow. a 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.