The Council of the Realm, or simply The Council (Swedish: Riksrådet or Swedish: Rådet: sometimes in Latin: Senatus Regni Sueciae), was a cabinet of medieval origin, consisting of magnates (Swedish: stormän) which advised, and at times co-ruled with, the King of Sweden.

The 1634 Instrument of Government, Sweden's first written constitution in the modern sense, stipulated that the King must have a council, but he was free to choose whomever he might find suitable for the job, as long as they were of Swedish birth. At the introduction of absolutism, Charles XI had the equivalent organ named as Royal Council (Swedish: Kungligt råd). In the Age of Liberty, the medieval name was reused. After the bloodless revolution of Gustav III, the Council was abolished in 1789 by the Union and Security Act.

The 1809 Instrument of Government, created a Council of State, also known as the King in Council (Swedish: Konungen i Statsrådet) which became the constitutionally mandated cabinet where the King had to make all state decisions in the presence of his cabinet ministers (Swedish: Statsråd). Throughout the 19th century and reaching its culmination with the enactment of the 1974 Instrument of Government, this new Council gradually transformed into an executive cabinet of ministers known as The Government (Swedish: Regeringen), chaired and formed by the Prime Minister who since 1975 is elected by the Riksdag, and which governs the Realm independently of a purely ceremonial monarch.

During the reign of Magnus Ladulås between 1275 and 1290 the meetings of the council became a permanent institution having the offices of Steward (Swedish: Riksdrots), Constable (Swedish: Riksmarsk) and Chancellor (Swedish: Rikskansler). Particularly from the reign of King Gustav Vasa, with his efforts of creating a centralised State, the members of the Council (Swedish: Riksråd) gradually became more of courtiers and state officials rather than the semi-autonomous warlords they once were.

Following the change of policies upon the death of Gustav II Adolf in action at Lützen in 1632, the 1634 Instrument of Government written by Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna laid the foundation for the administration of modern Sweden. For instance, the roots of the present-day administrative subdivision into counties (Swedish: Län) is a legacy from this time.

The Instrument established that the council was to be headed by the five Great Officers of the Realm, each leading a branch of the state administration:

Initially, three of the positions were occupied by the members of the Oxenstierna family, with Axel Oxenstierna's brother Gabriel Oxenstierna as the High Justiciar and his cousin Gabriel Bengtsson Oxenstierna as the High Treasurer. These positions were later abolished under Charles XI.

The councillors had the highest position in the kingdom after the royal family and were styled "the King's cousins". From around 1672, the year of the coming of age of Charles XI, the council was assembled less and less frequently and eventually the king ruled autocratically, using an ad hoc group of trusted relations and advisors to discuss a particular matter or group of matters. The Scanian War (1674–1679) gave the king the opportunity to establish – with the approval of the Estates – an absolute Monarchy along the lines of Renaissance Absolutism. Council, Parliament, local government, legal system, Church of Sweden, all were brought within the power of the King and his secretaries.