Source:
Mémoires concernant Christine, reine de Suède, volume 3, page 230, compiled and edited by Johan Arckenholtz, 1759
The letter:
Ceux qui vous ont persuadé, Monsieur le Comte, que la Soutane vous rendroit inhabile à mon service, se sont trompés, ou vous ont voulu tromper. Je suis si éloignée de ce sentiment, qu'au contraire je vous assure qu'elle ajoutera de l'éclat aux autres qualités qui vous rendent digne du poste que vous occupez dans ma Chambre. Et puisque vous demandez ma permission pour accepter la grace que mon Cousin, le Cardinal Barberini, vous veut faire; je vous la donne non seulement avec joie, mais je ne manquerai pas de l'en remercier moi-même, aussitôt que je saurai qu'il aura exécuté le favorable dessein qu'il a pour vous, qui est si digne de sa vertu & de sa générosité; & vous pouvez l'assurer que je lui en serai autant redevable qu'on le peut être. Je prie Dieu qu'il vous ait &c.
English translation (my own):
Those who persuaded you, Monsieur le Comte, that the Cassock would make you disqualified from my service were mistaken or wanted to deceive you. I am so far removed from this feeling that, on the contrary, I assure you that it will add lustre to the other qualities which make you worthy of the post you occupy in my Chamber. And since you are asking for my permission to accept the grace that my cousin, Cardinal Barberini, wants you to do, I give it to you not only with joy, but I will not fail to thank him myself, as soon as I know that he has carried out the favourable plan he has for you, which is so worthy of his virtue and of his generosity; and you can assure him that I will owe him as much as one can. I pray to God that He keep you, etc.
Note: In accordance with the nobility's ideals in the early modern era, kings and queens considered themselves siblings; when talking to someone of a lower rank than their own, they would refer to that person as "my cousin", regardless of whether or not they were related.
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