Source:
The Sibyl of the North: The Tale of Christina, Queen of Sweden, pages 251 to 254, by Faith Compton Mackenzie, 1931; original scan at the Universal Digital Library
The account:
She designed for herself a satin gown in very feminine mode. It was white, embroidered with gold flowers, and when the tailor brought it she put it on and stood for a long time gazing at herself silently in the mirror. While she was thus engaged, a woman came into the room whom she called the Sybil, because she had second sight and told fortunes.
"Do you like my habit?" asked the Queen.
"Yes, Madame, it is very well made."
"This habit", said Christina, "makes me think of some things of great importance, and I believe it will serve me in a little while in one of the greatest functions that can be; but you cannot guess what function this should be."
The Sybil demurred awhile and then said:
"Your Majesty thinks she will be buried in this habit in a little while."
Caponi, husband of her maid-of-honour Ottavia, interrupted:
"I believe the Queen thinks it will serve to wish the Pope a happy New Year in."
"The Sybil is right", said Christina, still absorbed in the reflection of herself.
Afterwards Caponi scolded the Sybil for prophesying the Queen's death.
"I did not prophesy", she said. "I only read her thoughts."
When Azzolino was told of this scene he was very angry, but the Sybil declared to him that she had no evil intention, and that the last thing she wished for was the Queen's death.
"God preserve us", she added, "for Your Eminence will not be long after the Queen, when God shall call her."
This was on Christmas Eve, 1688. In February [1689] Christina was ill with fever and erysipelas. She was terribly bad, but her tremendous vitality helped her through a malady "capable of killing twenty Hercules". Te Deums were sung in the Roman churches, and there was great rejoicing that the generous Queen was restored to the hundreds who lived upon her bounty. But in less than three weeks she died, with Azzolino kneeling beside her in her gaily frescoed room at Riario. Before she died she sent to the Pope to ask his pardon for her behaviour, and he sent absolution by his nephew, Cardinal Ottoboni, and a message that he wished to come himself to give her his blessing. But he did not come, it was said because he was ill. As she felt her strength going she signed her will[,] in which she left everything, except a few legacies, to Azzolino. She died magnificently, as bravely as she had lived, going forth as gallantly to meet the God she did not fear as she had years ago set out in her vain search for freedom.
She lay in state wearing the white dress she had designed, the royal crown on her head and the sceptre in her hand, surrounded by three hundred candles. In her will she expressly asks that she shall be buried simply, without any lying in state, and that there shall be no funeral pomp, her epitaph to be simply:
"D.O.M.
VIXIT CHRISTINA ANNOS LXIII"
neither more nor less. Her requests for no ceremony were never obeyed in her lifetime, probably because no one supposed that she meant it, and no doubt in the same spirit she was given a funeral of imposing magnificence and a tomb of prodigious size.
The Sybil had seen clearly. Only two months after Christina's death came the end of Azzolino. The destruction of their correspondence which she had commanded was only half done. It is not surprising that he kept hers to the last. Few would have the will or the strength to destroy such pledges of rare affection as those letters of Christina to her Cardinal lover.
Not one of her great visions and schemes had materialized. Nothing flowered — nothing bore fruit. And now even the disposition of her estate went wildly astray. To Pompeo Azzolino, nephew of the Cardinal, fell the priceless treasures of the Riario. He was the last person on earth she would have chosen as her heir, an insignificant member of her household whom she had not even mentioned in her will. He did not get much out of it, however, for there were twenty thousand Masses for the repose of Christina's soul, as well as two chapels in St. Peter's, to be paid for out of the estate.
The library was bought by Cardinal Ottoboni, who later was Pope, and most of the furniture and pictures were acquired by various noblemen whose obligation to pay was lightly regarded. So lightly that Pompeo was moved to appeal to the Swedish King, who showed himself quite indifferent whether Christina's heir should get his legal rights or not. Christina was dead, and Sweden's obligations were ended.
Above: Kristina.
Above: Cardinal Decio Azzolino.
Above: Faith Compton Mackenzie.
Note: Kristina died at age 62, not 63. It seems that even as late as at the 17th century, at least when writing in Latin, that some people used the ancient Roman age reckoning system that one was already one year old at birth, similar to traditional Chinese age reckoning both in the past and still today.
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