by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

Considered one of the most learned women of the 17th century, Queen Christina of Sweden is remembered for refusing to marry, abdicating her throne, converting to Roman Catholicism, living the rest of her life in Rome, and being one of only three women to be interred in the crypt at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Christina is one of three women who have been reigning queens of Sweden. The other two are Margarethe (reigned 1389 – 1412) and Ulrika Eleonora (reigned 1718 – 1720). In 1979, the Riksdag, the Swedish legislature, introduced an Act of Succession that changed the succession to absolute primogeniture, meaning that the eldest child of the monarch, regardless of gender, is first in the line of succession. Currently, Crown Princess Victoria, the eldest child of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, is the heir apparent and will likely be the fourth Queen Regnant of Sweden. Her eldest child Princess Estelle will likely be the fifth Queen Regnant.

Christina was born on December 18, 1626, at Tre Kronor Castle, on the site of the current Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden. She was the fourth and the only surviving child of Gustavus II Adolphus the Great, King of Sweden and Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg. Prior to her birth, Christina’s mother had given birth to a stillborn daughter in 1621, a daughter named Christina in 1623 who lived for only eleven months, and a stillborn son in 1625.

When Maria Eleonora became pregnant again in 1626, there was an excited expectation that at last, a male heir would be born. When the baby was born, it was first thought to be a boy because it was”hairy” and screamed “with a strong, hoarse voice” and Gustavus Adolphus had originally been told that the child was a boy. His half-sister Katarina of Sweden, Countess Palatine of Kleeburg then informed him that the child was not a boy but a girl, and then carried the baby to him, afraid of his reaction. Gustav Adolphus said, “She’ll be clever, she has made fools of us all!” and named her Christina after his mother Christina of Holstein-Gottorp. However, Maria Eleonora was in no condition to be told the truth about the baby’s gender, and Gustavus Adolphus waited several days before breaking the news to her. Maria Eleonora had a vicious reaction upon hearing the child was a girl and ordered the baby to be taken away from her. Gustavus Adolphus ordered the birth to be announced with all the ceremonies usually given to the birth of a male heir. This seems to indicate that Gustavus Adolphus had little hope of having other children. Maria Eleonora’s state of health is the most likely explanation for this. Gustavus Adolphus recognized Christina’s eligibility as a female heir and she became the undisputed heir presumptive.

Maria Eleonora showed little affection for her daughter and was not allowed any influence in Christina’s upbringing. Christina was placed in the care of Gustavus Adolphus’ half-sister Katarina of Sweden, Countess Palatine of Kleeburg and Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna. Before Gustavus Adolphus left to lead the Swedish army in the Thirty Years’ War (1618 to 1648), he legally secured his daughter Christina’s right to inherit the throne, in case he never returned and gave orders that Christina should receive an education normally given only to princes. At the Battle of Lützen on November 16, 1632, Gustavus Adolphus was killed and six-year-old Christina became Queen of Sweden.

Already suffering from mental issues, Maria Eleonora’s grief was quite painful and her mental issues worsened considerably. She was not included in the regency government during the minority of Christina because the council of the state did not consider her suitable as regent. In 1636, the regency government feared that Maria Eleonora’s mental instability would adversely influence the young Queen Christina. They decided to separate mother and daughter and Maria Eleonora was sent to Gripsholm Castle in Sweden. Christina’s mother later lived in Denmark and her homeland Brandenburg before being allowed to return to Sweden. Christina’s aunt Katarina of Sweden, Countess Palatine of Kleeburg acted more or less as her governess. After Katarina died in 1638, Christina had a series of women who served the dual role of foster mothers and governesses. The council of state gave Christina several foster mothers/governesses at one time to avoid her becoming attached to one person.

As per her father’s wishes, Christina was educated as a prince would have been. Her father had been appointed Lutheran theologian and court pastor, later Bishop of Strängnäs and an Uppsala University professor Johannes Matthiae Gothus to be her tutor. He taught Christina languages, theology, and philosophy. Christina’s relationship with Gothus was so close that he became like a father to her and she referred to him as father.

Christina was particularly gifted in languages. She was taught Latin, French, German, and Dutch, and on her own, she learned Greek, Italian, and Spanish. When Christina was twelve years old, Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna began teaching her about state affairs and politics. As a child, Christina received foreign envoys, and when she was fourteen-year-old she began receiving briefings on government affairs. In 1643, when Christina was sixteen years old, she began to regularly attend the council of state meetings. Upon her eighteenth birthday, the regency was over and Christina became Queen of Sweden in her own right. The council of state officially proclaimed, “Her Majesty is a king, she must be respected as a male”.

During her reign, large parts of the Thirty Years’ War were fought. Christina was a skilled politician who accelerated the Peace of Westphalia, ending the Thirty Years’ War. During her reign, Sweden had great achievements, and its prestige was increased. With her interest in religion, philosophy, mathematics, and science, Christina attracted many scholars to Stockholm including French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist René Descartes and French classical scholar Claudius Salmasius.

Christina used the support of the husband of her late aunt Katarina, Johann Kasimir of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg, and his two sons, Christina’s cousins Karl Gustav and Adolf Johann, with whom she was raised, to free herself from the influence of Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna. In 1647 she appointed Karl Gustav commander of the Swedish troops in Germany and at the same time signaled her intention to marry him. As a child, Christina was impressed by the Catholic religion and the celibacy of its priests. She also read a biography on the unmarried Queen Elizabeth I of England with great interest. In 1649, 23-year-old Christiana informed the council of state of her decision not to marry anyone and that she wanted her cousin Karl Gustav to be her heir.

From her autobiography, historians have a view of the development of Christina’s religious philosophy. Even as a child, Christina had taken a stand against strict Lutheran religious teachings. She wrote that she had never really been Lutheran. During the study of religion with her tutor Johannes Matthiae Gothus, Christina had formed a religion of her own. After her association with Catholics, such as Pierre Chanut, the French ambassador to Sweden, and René Descartes, she was more and more drawn to Roman Catholicism. Starting in 1651, she had long conversations with Antonio Macedo, Jesuit priest, secretary, and interpreter for Portugal’s ambassador to Sweden. In August 1651, Macedo brought a letter from Christina to the Superior General of the Jesuit order in Rome. In reply to the letter, two Jesuit scholars using false names and in disguise, Paolo Casati and Francesco Malines, came to Sweden in the spring of 1652. Christina had more conversations with them on sin, the immortality of the soul, and free will, and then decided to convert to Roman Catholicism. Jesuit Superior General Goshwin Nickel and Cardinal Fabio Chigi, who later became Pope Alexander VII, were informed that Queen Christina of Sweden, born a Lutheran, wanted to convert to Roman Catholicism.

Christina’s wish to convert to Roman Catholicism was not the only reason for her abdication. After reigning for twenty years and working at least ten hours a day, Christina had what may be interpreted as a nervous breakdown, or perhaps in more modern terms, she was burned out. She was also receiving increasing public criticism for her policies that caused a drain on the Swedish treasury. In the previous ten years, Christina had created seventeen new counts, 46 barons and 428 members of the lower nobility. To provide them with sufficient allowances, she had sold or mortgaged crown property.

In February 1654, Christina informed the council of state that she intended to abdicate. An abdication ceremony was held on June 6, 1654, at Uppsala Castle. Christina wore her regalia, which were then ceremonially removed from her, one by one. The person who was to remove the crown did not move so Christina had to take off the crown herself. Dressed in a simple white dress, she gave her farewell speech and left the throne to her cousin Karl Gustav of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg who was crowned later that day as Karl X Gustav, King of Sweden. Within a few days, 28-year-old Christina left Sweden.

Christina made her way to the Spanish Netherlands ruled by the Catholic Habsburgs, now in Belgium and the Netherlands. On December 24, 1654, Christina converted to Roman Catholicism in the chapel of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, brother of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor. This was a private ceremony and Christina’s conversion was not publicized. She converted to Catholicism publicly on November 3, 1655, at the Innsbruck Court Church in Austria. Christina arrived in Rome on December 20, 1655. On Christmas Day in 1655, Christina received the sacrament of confirmation from Pope Alexander VII, the former Cardinal Fabio Chigi, at St. Peter’s Basilica. The pope gave her the confirmation name Alexandra, the feminine version of his papal name. Christina was given use of the Palazzo Farnese and then in 1659, she moved to the Palazzo Corsini which would be her permanent home.  Christina played a prominent role in Rome’s cultural life.

In April 1660, Christina was informed that her cousin Karl X Gustav, King of Sweden had died in February. His son and successor Karl XI was only five years old. Christina went to Sweden that summer and announced that she had left the throne to her cousin and his heir, but if Karl XI died, she would take over the throne again. However, as she was a Catholic that was impossible, and the Swedish clergy refused to let her priests celebrate Mass. Her stay in Stockholm was short.

Christina remained very tolerant towards the beliefs of others. When King Louis XIV of France revoked the Edict of Nantes, abolishing the rights of French Protestant Huguenots, Christina wrote an indignant letter to Cardinal Cesar d’Estrees, the French ambassador to Rome. King Louis XIV did not appreciate her view but Christina was not to be silenced. She made Pope Clement X prohibit the custom of chasing Jews through the streets during the carnival before Lent and she issued a declaration that Roman Jews were under her protection, signed la Regina – the queen.

Christina died, aged 62, on April 19, 1689, at the Palazzo Corsini in Rome after suffering from erysipelas, an acute bacterial infection, and pneumonia. She had asked for a simple burial in the Pantheon in Rome. However, Pope Innocent XI insisted that her body be displayed in the fashion of a pope and then interred in the Papal Crypt at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. While her sarcophagus is in the Papal Crypt, a huge monument is in the basilica.

Christina is one of three women to be interred in the crypt at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. The other two are Matilda of Tuscany, Margravine of Tuscany, Vicereine of Italy, Imperial Vicar (circa 1046 – 1115), one of the most powerful nobles in Italy in the second half of the 11th century, and Maria Clementina Sobieska (1702 – 1735), the wife of James Francis Edward Stuart, son of the deposed James II, King of England and a Jacobite claimant to the British throne, known as the Old Pretender.

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Works Cited

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• Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Gustavus II Adolphus the Great, King of Sweden. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-gustavus-ii-adolphus-the-great-of-sweden/> [Accessed 26 August 2021].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, Queen of Sweden. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/maria-eleonora-of-brandenburg-queen-of-sweden/> [Accessed 26 August 2021].
• Sv.wikipedia.org. 2021. Drottning Kristina – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drottning_Kristina> [Accessed 26 August 2021].