The castle and 15,000 hectares of land on Boo's property in southern Närke have been passed down from father to eldest son for almost twelve generations. It is today one of Sweden's largest privately owned properties.

The estate is a fideikommiss, which means that the general rules of succession do not apply. In a noble deed of gift from 1737, it was decided that the castle with estates may not be sold in its entirety, but should forever be passed down from father to eldest son. Among other things, they wanted to ensure that the properties are not divided into several smaller parts.

"It's important to find ways to solve it within the family anyway. If one of the daughters really wants to, I would do everything in my power to ensure that it was redirected to it, says heiress Carl-Fredrik Hamilton in the SVT documentary "The Inheritance and the Acceptable Injustice".

Hoping for extension from the government

In 1963, the Reichstag passed the Law on the Settlement of Fideikommiss. This means that all fideikommiss that remains shall cease when the holder dies. Today, there are only nine left.

However, the Government can make exceptions if the property has special cultural-historical value or if there are other special reasons.

"I'm sure an extension is what benefits the goods best," hamilton says.

The last case to be tried for an extension was Fullerö manor outside Västerås in 2021, which was then rejected. The Hamilton family hasn't applied for an extension yet, but plans to make that decision when the current fidei commissioner dies.

"Probably gone in 10-20 years"

Historian Martin Dackling leads a research project on fideikommiss and describes a paradox in the Swedish system: That we partly want to be an equal country but at the same time are the only country in Europe where fideikommiss with only male heirs lives on.

"There's an inequality at its core, it's its own order of succession.

Based on the wording of the recent rejection of extension, he believes fideikommiss will soon be a thing of the past.

"We will probably see a total decommissioning over the next 10-20 years. That's my reconnaissance," dackling says.

Watch the full documentary The Legacy and the Acceptable Injustice on SVT Play, or Thursday, March 23 at 20:00 in SVT2.