Anna Brownell Jameson's biography of Kristina, part 10

Source:

Memoirs of celebrated female sovereigns, volume 1, pages 59 to 62, by Anna Brownell Jameson, 1831; original at the University of Toronto

https://archive.org/details/memoirsofcelebra02jameuoft/page/58/mode/2up

The biography:

It was not without reason that she hastened to quit her own kingdom after the step she had taken. The good people of Sweden could not well understand their queen's predilection for philosophy; they were so unrefined as to see in her renunciation of her hereditary throne only the abandonment of great and solemn duties; and in her preference of foreigners, foreign countries, foreign manners, an insult to themselves — a want of feeling as well as a want of patriotism. The idea that she was conveying out of the kingdom immense property, purchased with the gold which had been wrung from the necessities of the people, completed their disgust and indignation; and it is certain that there were serious intentions of arresting her before she quitted the kingdom, and forcing her either to resume her crown, or to reside in her own country, or to give up the pension and the royal treasures she was carrying away (She conveyed out of the kingdom more than one hundred bales of property, consisting of jewels, gold and silver plate, statues, pictures, books, and articles of value, to the amount of some millions of crowns.).

Christina herself was aware of her unpopularity, and so fearful of being detained, that she took a route different from that which she had at first intended, and would not accept the escort of armed vessels with which Charles wished to have conveyed her in honour, if not in triumph, from the shores of Sweden; her journey, in fact, resembled a flight. As long as she remained within the boundaries of her former kingdom she appears to have been in terror from the threats of the lower orders of the people, and was careful not to shock public opinion, lest she should be delayed, and her plan of independence retarded or prevented; but on reaching Collen, near the frontiers, she threw off all restraint. Quitting her female attire, she assumed the dress and deportment of a man, sent away all her women, and retained in her service only four gentlemen of her suite, with a few inferior servants (Her attendants were Count Dohna, her chamberlain; Count Steinberg, her equerry; Baron Soop, and another: not one of these knew whither they were going.). She generally travelled on horseback, under a feigned name, and passed the frontiers of her kingdom, not only without regret, but with a childish ecstasy, wishing she might never return to it, and glorying in her dear-bought freedom.

It is worthy of remark, that during the extraordinary scenes which attended and followed her abdication and departure, Christina never betrayed the least sign of emotion, hesitation, or repentance. She "played out the play" most unshrinkingly, but was in too great a hurry to be dignified; — too impatient — too intent upon her selfish purpose to show any thing like feeling for others. It does not appear that, individually, any one regretted her, or that she regretted any one. She shed no tears on parting with Ebba Sparre, whom she loved as well as she could love any thing, but who did not return her attachment, and seems to have felt her departure a relief (Ebba Sparre was at this time the wife of Count Jacob de la Gardie, and the mother of two children. She died in 1662.). The only two persons who really grieved over her abdication were her mother and the old Chancellor Oxenstiern. From her mother, who was sick with grief, mortification, disappointment, and incessant weeping, she parted without a tear: the old chancellor, on pretence of illness, shut himself up, and refused to officiate at any of the ceremonies attending the coronation of the new king.

Above: Kristina.

Above: Ebba Sparre.

Above: Axel Oxenstierna.

Above: Maria Eleonora.

Above: Anna Brownell Jameson.