Christina, Queen of Sweden
The Restless Life of a European Eccentric

By Veronica Buckley

     The story of Queen Christina of Sweden begins even before her birth on a cold December night in 1626. To understand Christina, we must understand the world into which she was born. Hers was a world of privilege, but carried far more responsibility than a child’s should carry. In addition, Sweden had never had a woman who ruled alone. Her mother, with her fragile grip on sanity, was disappointed that her only surviving offspring was a daughter. Her father, though disappointed, made the necessary changes in Swedish law so that Christina could inherit the throne.

     Christina was even more a disappointment to her father because he was at first told she was a boy. Still, he loved his daughter, though her mother had little to do with her. He made certain she was brought up as a France and taught what she would need to know as a queen. Gustav Adolph also made a decision about who would serve as Regent if he should die before Christina attained her majority of eighteen. It was well known that his wife, Maria Eleanora, was mentally and emotionally incapable of ruling as Regent. So, he appointed a group of five regents, all men, to rule for his young Christina.

    It was a good thing he had the foresight to prepare the Regency. Six years after Christina’s birth, Gustav Adolph lost his life in battle in the Thirty Years War that still held Europe in its grip. Maria Eleanora went mad with grief. She almost smothered the Christina beneath its weight.

    Christina, Queen of Sweden explodes a few of the common myths about this renegade queen. However there are some questions which can never be proven or disproved. Read her story and decide for yourself who and what this enigmatic lady was and who she became.