Career
The sentence was later changed by the supreme court and his life was spared on the condition that he left the country for good. He was stripped of his status as Freiherr and his civil rights were revoked. Ehrensvärd joined the military at an early age.
He received his first military training in the royal guard, working as a page for Louisa Ulrika of Prussia and eventually rose to the rank of first lieutenant in the artillery.
In 1792 he had become involved in a plot to murder the king. His role in the plot, which was successful, first resulted in a death sentence but was later deemed too minor to justify a death sentence and was changed by the supreme court.
Instead, his civil rights were revoked, effectively making him an outlaw, his title was revoked and he was expelled from Sweden for good. Following his expulsion from Sweden he initially went to Germany, where he planned to seek employment with the French army but the revolution made this impossible and after a short time as a farmer in Holstein he decided to move to Denmark.
He also assumed his mother"s maiden name Gyllembourg.
The couple eventually settled in Copenhagen and Ehrensvärd continued to pursue his interest in politics and agriculture by writing books and papers. Among these were a paper consisting of remarks and suggestions for a Norwegian constitution. Norway had entered into a union with Sweden in 1814 and his paper was anonymously incorporated into the proceedings of the Norwegian rigsforsamling.