Source:
Some Historic Women; or, Biographical Studies of Women Who Have Made History, pages 286 to 287, by William Henry Davenport Adams, 1890-1899; original at the University of Toronto - Robarts Library
Above: Kristina.
The biography:
Her coronation in 1650 was made the occasion of great rejoicings. All classes of the population seemed intoxicated with delight, and vied with each other in demonstrations of loyalty and affection. They were proud of their brilliant Queen, who had a twofold claim on their hearts — as the daughter of their great King, and by right of her own gifts and graces. Christina was evidently gratified by the enthusiasm of her subjects; and yet its echoes had scarcely died away before it became known that she was preparing to carry out an idea she had long entertained, and to retire from the throne she occupied so worthily. Such an idea might well commend itself to a sovereign like Charles V., weary with the burden of long years of imperial responsibility, discouraged by disaster, and shaken by disease; but that it should take possession of the mind of a young Queen, in the full vigour of her faculties, and with no sad experience of failure, must always remain a subject of astonishment. None of the reasons given for it — a desire to devote herself to literary pursuits — a longing for the climate and scenery of the South — a discontent with the social condition of Sweden — seem to account sufficiently for this extraordinary resolution. Probably it was mainly due to that vague thirst for change, that constant restlessness, that general feeling of discontent, which, so to speak, was in her blood; and had been fostered by the peculiar influences surrounding her in her earlier years.
When she announced her intention to her Council (August 7th, 1651), pointing to her cousin, Charles Gustavus, as her successor, they combated it vigorously. Even an elected King, they argued, was pledged to the protection of his subjects, much more so an hereditary monarch. Her title had been confirmed by the oaths so recently repeated at her coronation, when she too had taken an oath to rule as their sovereign, according to the law. On neither side could such a solemn engagement be violated without reproach. They appealed warmly to her sense of duty, and contended that, born a Queen, she must accept her fortune, and not attempt to escape from its obligations. They pressed their arguments with so much force and with such evident emotion that she consented to withdraw her resignation, though, at the same time, she told her friends that it was only postponed.
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