Source:
Christina of Sweden, pages 40 to 43, by Ada Harrison, 1929
The biography:
Christina skirted round the notion of the alliance, but for her own good reasons and to Whitelocke's grief refused to be pinned down. At last she broached the subject of her abdication. The solid Englishman thought at first 'she did but drolle'; but, being convinced of her seriousness, he made bold to tell the story of the old man who determined to resign his properties to his son, but on the day of the ceremony, being asked to sit in the kitchen because of his inconvenient habits, revoked proceedings, 'having resolved to spit in the parlour as long as he lived.' 'So', concluded the fatherly Whitelocke, 'I hope will a wise young lady.'
But Christina had resigned her parlour. In February 1654 she definitely announced her decision to abdicate, requiring the consent of the Senate as a due. 'During the period of ten years that I have governed this nation', she declared, 'I have sacrificed all things to its interest. I have spared neither care nor vigilance to procure that domestic and foreign repose which this kingdom now so completely enjoys. As the grateful reward of all my enterprises, I demand your consent to my abdication.'
The Senate protested, but the protest was in all probability only formal. Things had gone too far. Her religious intentions were known. She was still the daughter of Gustavus Aldolphus [sic], but in flesh only, no longer in spirit. She was a daughter who was to protest in the light of her new convictions that her royal father should be excused for his Protestant part in the Thirty Years' War, since what he really strove for was glory, and not 'si méchante cause'!
The Senate was weary of the queen and doubted the blessings which she insisted that the country had enjoyed at her hands. Also their patience with her extravagance was almost exhausted. One of her last handsome games had been the founding of an Order of the Amaranth, a kind of celibate club, to every member of which she presented a badge of diamonds and robes of silk. In more serious matters, too, she had worn them out. She fought them on every issue, and could never get enough power into her hands. The meeting of the Estates which was to ratify the abdication was called for May. The shortness of the interval does not suggest that the Senate sincerely wished Christina to change her mind.
Christina's abdication is said by some historians to have broken Oxenstierna's heart. It is unlikely that any fate so dramatic overtook the steady Chancellor, who had once vowed that the death of Gustavus Adolphus cost him the second sleepless night of his life. But it must have been unbearably bitter for him to see his pupil and the daughter of his idol come to this pass, and the house he had helped to set so high coming to this flat, inglorious end.
Now there was nothing left for the queen to do but to stage her departure, to secure her future, to take leave of her mother, and in the intervals to look joyously forward. The future was to be a scholar's noble paradise under blue skies, the paradise of a royal philosopher who had risen high enough to disdain state.
The Senate acted very fairly by Christina. By the terms of her abdication she preserved for her own certain large territories, including Pomerania and various islands in the Baltic, was guaranteed her personal freedom and independence and absolute rights over her household, and was granted a respectable yearly pension. This last, according to the queen, was in arrears almost from the moment of its inception. The Swedish government, however, made an honest effort to pay even when national finances were at their lowest ebb, and it is to their credit that, under the strongest provocation, they did not repudiate their debt.
The last scenes in Sweden were dramatic enough. Christina paid a visit to Nykoping [sic] to take leave of her mother. Eleanore characteristically signified her dissent. She wept for her daughter throughout the entire night of her visit. The abdication ceremony was in its nature poignant. It was Christina's last appearance in public sovereignty and a magnificently solemn one. The ranks of the Estates were gathered. The queen came among them, not in her royal robes, but in a simple white dress. In her clear and steady fashion she pronounced her abdication. Count Peter Brahe, who had crowned her father, would not uncrown her, and she was obliged to lift the crown from her own head. Then she stood up to receive the parting homage of the Estates. At the end, the old Marshal of the Order of Peasants approached the queen, took her hand, wept upon it without a word and returned to his place.
The same night Christina left Upsala. The act was over[,] and she was wild to be away. Her preparations were made in pressing haste. It was as if she could not wait an instant to drain the cup of freedom. A first draught suggested itself to her. She put on man's clothing, mounted her horse, and just fifteen days after her abdication, evading her proffered escort, slipped out of Sweden.
She was then in her twenty-eighth year [sic].
Above: Kristina.
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