Kristina of Sweden

/ historicallywoman

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a king in possession of a crown, must be in want of a son. When Maria Eleanora, Queen of Sweden, went into labour with her fourth child, everyone, presumably including King Gustav II, was hoping for a boy. Of their other children, two were stillborn (a daughter in 1621 and a son in 1625) and the girl born in 1623 died a year later. 

One can only imagine the relief when a healthy, ‘hairy’ baby who screamed ‘with a strong, hoarse voice’ appeared, and the king was informed his long-awaited son was finally here.

Only for them to realise that the prince was, in fact, a princess.

It is not known what caused the confusion over Kristina’s gender at birth; some have suggested it was due to her allegedly being unusually hairy, whereas others have pointed to the possibility that she was intersex. In an attempt to clear up the matter, her skeleton was exhumed in 1964, however texts proved inconclusive, though it was noted that she had a typically female bone structure.

Kristina’s gender has been a point of contention for historians for years, but the fact of the matter is we have no way of knowing how she would have identified had the language we have today been available to her. Her official title was that of ‘King’, however this is due to the fact that the concept of a queen regnant was not widely recognised, and in practice she was called ‘Queen’. Most current sources refer to Kristina using she/her/hers pronouns, which this article will also follow.

A portrait of Kirstina of Sweden against a brown background.
Kristina of Sweden, painted by Sébastien Bourdon

King Gustav was known for having a fierce temper so it was likely with understandable trepidation that Kristina’s aunt went to inform him of the mistake, a whole day after the birth. However, contrary to expectations, he took the news remarkably well, unlike Maria Eleanora, who was severely disappointed and neglected Kristina during childhood. 

Gustav remarked, ‘She’ll be clever, she has made fools of us all!’, and gave orders for her to be given an education befitting a prince. Kristina was tutored in languages, history, politics, hunting, riding, and fencing, among other things, and she was certainly exceptionally smart. She studied for ten hours throughout her life and she spoke at least eight languages – Swedish, German, Dutch, Danish, French, Italian, Arabic, and Hebrew. She also may have understood Finnish, Latin, and Greek.

Kristina’s father was killed in 1632 during the Thirty Years’ War. Gustav had planned for this eventuality and had secured Kristina’s place as his heir before he left for Germany. She was six years old at the time and so Lord High Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna ruled as regent, personally tutoring Kristina in politics. Maria Eleanora was entirely excluded from being part of the regency; in fact, her parental rights were terminated in 1636 due to fears that her mental instability would affect the young queen. Kristina was raised by a group of foster mothers under the watchful eye of Oxenstierna.

By fourteen, Kristina was allowed into government meetings and Oxenstierna proudly noted ‘She is not at all like a female’. Certainly, she preferred wearing men’s clothes, dedicated very little time to her personal appearance, had a filthy sense of humour and could swear like a sailor, and loved shooting and riding. She seemed to loathe all things feminine and presented herself as masculine despite her physical appearance. This was not uncommon for queen regnants in the early modern era; we may remember Elizabeth I’s speech to the troops at Tilbury – ‘I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king’.

At nine years old, Kristina read a biography of the famous English queen. She then declared that she, like Elizabeth, would never marry, an assertion nobody really took seriously, yet one that Kristina would stick to for her entire life.

“I was born, have lived, and will die free.”

Kristina of Sweden

Kristina’s majority was declared in 1644, though she would not officially be crowned for another six years due to war with Denmark. From the start, she made it clear that she would not have her will overridden by men; when her former regent sent his son to argue against a peaceful end to the Thirty Years’ War, Kristina sent her own delegate to argue the opposite. 

She got her way, and the Peace of Westphalia was signed between May and October 1648.

For her entire life, Kristina was devoted to learning and her court was one of intellectuals. Stockholm became known as the ‘Athens of the North’ and she its ‘Minerva’. She attracted scholars from all over Europe, including Descartes himself, though he was reluctant to come to Sweden until she proposed that he organise a scientific academy. He arrived in October and began giving private lessons to the queen in December, waking arriving at the draughty castle at five in the morning to discuss philosophy, though the arrangement didn’t last long. Kristina and Descartes did not get along and, besides, Descartes died of pneumonia in February 1950, which developed from a cold he’d probably caught from the chilly Swedish climate.

Kristina’s reign was a haven for knowledge and education, seeing the publication of the first Swedish newspaper, and she went to great lengths to protect the Jewish people. She believed strongly in religious tolerance and once threatened the Pope to turn away from Catholicism if he did not stop the practice of stoning Jews in the streets. 

A portrait of Kristina of Sweden. She is sitting astride a horse and is holding a sword.
Kristina of Sweden, painted by Sébastien Bourdon, 1653

However, it also had its problems. Her patronage of the arts was an expensive habit and Krisina was notoriously bad at managing money and her lands. She was also interested in Catholicism and, as early as 1650, was considering converting. This posed a significant problem as Sweden was Lutheran and changing the country’s religion was not a feasible path.

Further, Kristina was still refusing to marry. She seemed to baulk at the idea of subordinating herself to another person, particularly a man, which is more than understandable given her marriage would mean a reduction in her powers as queen. She said: ‘Having God made me be born free, I would never know how to resolve to give myself a Master; and since I was born to command, how could I settle myself to obey and come myself down to such slavery‘. 

Kristina appointed her cousin, Charles Gustavus, as her heir. There were whispers that the two were romantically linked, but the apparent great love of her life was with her lady-in-waiting, Countess Ebbe ‘Belle’ Sparre. They exchanged passionate letters and shared a bed, however it is unclear exactly what kind of relationship they shared. 

Despite attempts by her council to stop her, Kristina abdicated the throne of Sweden on 6th June 1654. This was for numerous reasons – Kristina claimed that the country needed a man to rule them and that she needed a rest, plus there was the religious aspect and her drop in popularity due to spending and mismanagement of estates. At her abdication ceremony, her royal regalia was removed piece by piece, but no one would come forward to take the crown. Kristina did it herself. She then made a moving speech, thanking God and all her subjects, and asked Charles Gustavus to take the throne. He declined to sit and the two walked side by side out of the hall.

Kristina was not present at Charles’s coronation ceremony, though she did attend the banquet. A few days later, she dressed in men’s clothes and travelled to Brussels, then made her way to Rome. By the time she arrived, she had converted to Roman Catholicism, and she became a favourite in the Vatican.

There is evidence to suggest that Kristina regretted her decision to give up the Swedish throne. Between 1656-7, she made a bid for the crown of Naples. She was supported by the Pope, Clement IX, and his nephew said that Kristina ‘could be considered a male’ and ‘everyone already considers the Queen not only as a male but as superior to all men’.

Still, Kristina failed, partly through her execution of a member of her household, the marquis of Monaldesco. She later tried to become queen of Poland, but this, too, failed.

Kristina of Sweden died in Rome on 19th April 1689, aged 62. She was a remarkable woman who challenged expectations and was one of the most intelligent, educated people of her time.

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