From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

wedish_queen_Drottning_Kristina_portrait_by_S%C3%A9bastien_B ourdon_stor.jpg"> wedish_queen_Drottning_Kristina_portrait_by_S%C3%A9bastien_B ourdon_stor.jpg> wedish_queen_Drottning_Kristina_portrait_by_S%C3%A9bastien_B ourdon_stor.jpg"> Christina Queen regnant of Sweden

Swedish Royalty   House of Vasa Gustav I Children    Prince Eric    Prince John    Princess Catherine    Princess Cecilia    Prince Magnus    Princess Anna    Princess Sofia    Princess Elizabeth    Prince Charles Eric XIV Children    Princess Sigrid    Prince Gustav John III Children    Prince Sigismund    Princess Anna    Prince John Sigismund Children    Wladislaus    John Casimir    John Albert    Charles Ferdinand    Alexander Charles    Anna Catherine Konstantia Charles IX Children    Princess Catherine    Prince Gustav Adolf    Princess Maria Elizabeth    Princess Christina    Prince Carl Philip Grandchildren    Charles X Gustav Gustav II Adolf Children    Princess Christina Christina

Christina (Kristina) (December 8, 1626 � April 19, 1689), later known as Maria Christina Alexandra and sometimes Count Dohna, was Queen regnant of Sweden from 1632 to 1654. She was the only legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolf. As the heiress presumptive she succeeded her father to the throne of Sweden upon his death at the Battle of L�tzen (November 6, 1632) during Sweden's intervention in Germany in the Thirty Years' War.

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Early life

Christina was born in Stockholm and the birth occurred during a rare astrological conjunction that fueled great speculation on what influence the child, fervently hoped to be a boy, would have later on the world stage. Reportedly she was so hairy and large that the midwives in fact prematurely called out that a boy had been born [1]. Her gender identity was never clear cut. She was educated in the manner typical of men, and frequently wore men's clothes (such as dresses with short skirts, stockings and shoes with high heels - all these features being useful when not riding pillion). This has caused her to later become an icon of the transgendered community. During the 20th century, her grave was opened so that her death mask could be examined. While the grave was open, a team of scientists examined her bones in an attempt to determine if she was intersexual, but they were not able to come to a clear conclusion.

Queen Christina's mother, Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, came from the Hohenzollern family. She was a woman of quite distraught temperament, and her attempts to bestow guilt on Christina for her difficult birth, or just the horror story itself, may have prejudiced Christina against the prospect of having to produce a heir to the throne.

Her father gave orders that Christina should be brought up as a prince. Even as a child she displayed a precociousness that astonished the brilliant philosopher Descartes, who had been invited from France to tutor her.

Queen regnant

(N.B. all Swedish Monarchs are styled King. Kung denoting Monarch Regnant, Drottning denoting Queen Consort.)

The Crown of Sweden was inherited in the family of Vasa, and from Charles IX's time excluding those Vasa princes who had been traitors or descend from deposed monarchs. Gustav Adolph's younger brother had died years ago, and therefore there were only females left. Despite of the fact that there were living female lines descended from elder sons of Gustav I Vasa, Christina was the heiress presumptive.

National policy was directed during the first half of Christina's reign by her guardian, regent and adviser Axel Oxenstierna, chancellor to her father and until her majority in 1644 the principal member of the governing regency council. As ruler, Christina resisted demands from the other estates (clergy, burgesses and peasants) in the Riksdag of the Estates of 1650 for the reduction of tax-exempt noble landholdings.

Abdication

Christina came under the influence of Catholics and then abdicated her throne on June 5, 1654 in favour of her cousin Charles Gustavus in order to either practice openly her previously secret Catholicism, or to accept the same publicly so as to be at the center of a scientific and artistic renaissance.

The sincerity of her conversion has been disputed. Actually, in the eyes of her critics, there were many causes which might ostensibly have predisposed her to what was, after all, anything but an act of self-renunciation. First of all she could not have ignored the increasing discontent with her arbitrary and wasteful ways. Within ten years she had created 17 counts, 46 barons and 428 lesser nobles; to provide these new peers with adequate appanages, she had sold or mortgaged crown property representing an annual income of 1,200,000 riksdaler. There were clear signs that Christina was growing weary of the cares of what remained a provincial government; even if with large conquered territory.

Political contributions

The importunity of the senate and Riksdag on the question of her marriage was a constant source of irritation. In retirement she could devote herself wholly to art and science, and the opportunity of astonishing the world by the unique spectacle of a great queen, in the prime of life, voluntarily resigning her crown, strongly appealed to her vivid imagination. It is certain that towards the end of her reign she behaved as if she were determined to do everything in her power to make herself as little missed as possible. From 1651 there was a notable change in her behaviour. She cast away every regard for the feelings and prejudices of her people. She ostentatiously exhibited her contempt for the Protestant religion. Her foreign policy was flighty to the verge of foolishness. She contemplated an alliance with Spain, a state quite outside the orbit of Sweden's influence, the first fruits of which were to have been an invasion of Portugal. She utterly neglected affairs in order to plunge into a whirl of dissipation with her foreign favorites. The situation became impossible, and it was with an intense feeling of relief that the Swedes saw her depart, in masculine attire, under the name of Count Dohna.

Setting off to Rome

Upon conversion she took a new name Maria Christina Alexandra and moved to Rome, where her wealth and former position made her a centre of society. Her status as the most notable convert to Catholicism of the age, and as the most famous woman at the time (even exceeding Elizabeth I of England), made it possible for her to ignore or flout the most common requirements of obeisance to the Catholic faith. She herself remarked that her Catholic faith was not of the common order; indeed, before converting she had queried from church officials how strictly she would be expected to obey the church's common observances, and received reassurances.

While in Rome, she engaged in numerous world-political intrigues, particularly in concert with the Catholic Church's clandestine group of troubleshooters, the squadrones volantes. Growing wearied of acting behind the scenes in her later years, she made several attempts to gain the crown of a country, even launching an abortive attempt to reclaim the Swedish throne.

She left her large and important library to the Papacy on her death (April 19, 1689).

She is only one of four women to be given the honour of being buried in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica, alongside the remains of the popes. A monument to her was carved later on and adorns a column close to the permanent display of Michelangelo's Piet�.

Heritage

Christina's reign was controversial, and literature circulated during her lifetime that described her as participating in multiple affairs with both men and women. This, along with the emotional letters that she wrote to female friends, has caused her to become an icon for the lesbian community.

The complex character of Christina has inspired numerous plays, books, and operatic works, including the classic feature film Queen Christina in 1934. It starred another complex female Swedish character who was herself suspected of being lesbian � Greta Garbo. Another feature film, The Abdication starred the Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann, and was based on a play by Ruth Wolff.

See also

• History of Sweden
• Swedish Empire
• List of Swedish queens
• Alessandro Scarlatti
• Gian Rinaldo Monaldesco

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Ulrika Eleonora Queen regnant of Sweden

Swedish Royalty   House of Pfalz-Zweibr�cken falz-Zweibr%C3%BCcken_coa.png">falz-Zweibr%C3%BCcken_coa.png> Charles X Gustav Children    Prince Charles Charles XI Children    Princess Hedwig Sophia    Prince Charles    Princess Ulrika Eleonora Charles XII Ulrika Eleonora

Ulrika Eleonora (February 23, 1688 � November 24, 1741) was Queen regnant of Sweden from November 30, 1718, to February 29, 1720, and then Queen consort until her death. The youngest child of King Charles XI and Queen Ulrike Eleonora, she was named after her mother. Upon the untimely and debated death of her brother, King Charles XII, at Fredrikshald on November 30, 1718, the succession discussions ultimately ended up in her favour, after she had accepted to abolish the absolute monarchy.

In 1715 she had married Landgrave Friedrich I of Hesse-Kassel, whose counsel she constantly sought in political matters. She even wanted him to officially become co-regent, but this was not allowed, and instead she abdicated in his favour after just one year of reign. Friedrich succeeded her on the Swedish throne as King Frederick I. Queen Ulrika Eleonora died of smallpox in 1741 after a childless marriage. The reigns of Ulrika Eleonora and her husband saw the birth of the era of Swedish history that is traditionally called the Age of Liberty, where the monarch had to give up most of his power to the aristocracy.

See also

• List of Swedish queens