Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom, who has earned her a focus on human rights issues and policies in support of women, both admirers and critics, announced her decision to resign on Friday to take care of her family.
"It's time to spend more time with my husband, children and grandchildren," Wallstrom wrote on Twitter. "I told the prime minister that I wanted to leave the government and my position as foreign minister."
Wallström, a member of the Social Democrats, took office in 2014 when Prime Minister Stefan Leuven formed his government to launch what she called "a pro-women foreign policy."
The 64-year-old diplomat has worked for a long time on the Swedish and international political scene, taking up positions at the European Commission and was the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict.
It has angered Israel in its first steps as foreign minister by announcing Sweden's recognition of a Palestinian state.
Israel angered again when it called for "in-depth" investigations into the IDF's killing of Palestinians, which it called "extrajudicial killings," prompting the Jewish state to classify it as an undesirable figure.
Diplomatic relations between Stockholm and Riyadh were also suspended in 2015 after Wallstrom called Saudi Arabia a "dictatorship" and criticized it for violating human rights.
Wallstrom was politically active during her adolescence in the ranks of the youth wing of the Social Democratic Party.
Early in her political career, she was influenced by Sweden's Social Democrat leader Olaf Palme.