Source:
Fair Women at Fontainebleau, pages 235 to 240, by Frank Hamel, 1909; original at the University of California
The biography:
At last came the opportunity she longed for, which brought her to France, and she set sail for Marseilles. The French were brimful of curiosity to see this most extraordinary personage, who had become notorious, and was known by such names as the Sybil of the North, the tenth Muse, or the strolling queen. On September 8, 1656, she entered Paris escorted by five thousand horsemen. She wore a scarlet doublet, a woman's skirt, a plumed hat, and rode astride a big white horse. Pistols were at her holster, and she carried a cane. The Court was at Compiègne, and she went thither to see the king and queen-mother. Mme. de Motteville gave an account of her arrival: "She was well received at Court. Mazarin introduced the king and Monsieur to her as two noblemen of the highest rank in France, but, having seen their portraits at the Louvre, she recognized them, and remarked wittily, she could well believe it, for they seemed to her born to wear crowns." Anne of Austria greeted her with many compliments, expressing joy at meeting her. "I was one of those who were nearest to these two royal personages", added Mme. de Motteville, "and though the close descriptions given of the Queen of Sweden had pictured her to my imagination, I own that at first the sight of her surprised me. The hair of her wig was on that day uncurled; the wind as she got out of her carriage blew it about; and as the little care she took of her complexion had destroyed its whiteness, she looked to me, at first sight, like a disreputable g*psy who, by chance, was not quite brown."
After describing her dress, the body of which "was half in the shape of a man's doublet and the other half in that of a woman's hongreline", as well as various other strange details, Mme. de Motteville declared that after a time she grew accustomed to Christina's clothes, her hair, and her appearance, and noticed that "her eyes were fine and sparkling, that there was gentleness in her face, and kindness mingled with pride. ... Finally I perceived, with amazement, that she pleased me, and from minute to minute I felt I was entirely changing to her. She seemed to me taller than we had been told she was, and less deformed; but her hands, which had been praised as beautiful, were not so at all; they were only tolerably well shaped and not black; but on that day they were so very dirty it was impossible to see any beauty if they had it."
The best pen portrait of this most extraordinary woman was given by the Duc de Guise. "Her face", he wrote, "is large without being faulty; her features are cast in the same mould, and strongly marked; her nose aquiline, her mouth large, but not unpleasing; her teeth passable, her eyes very fine and full of fire; her complexion, slightly scarred by smallpox, is bright and handsome; the face as a whole well shaped, surrounded by an odd headgear, namely, a man's wig, high on the forehead and bushy at the sides, with light-coloured tips below; the top of the head is a tangle of hair, and behind it is arranged like women wear it. Occasionally she wears a hat. The body of her gown, laced up behind crookedly, is made something like our doublets; her chemise sticks out all round above her petticoat, which she wears ill-fastened and not over-straight. She is always very much powdered, with quantities of pomatum, and she never wears any gloves. She is shod like a man, and she has the tone of voice and nearly all the actions of a man. She affects to play the Amazon."
Christina not only dressed like a man, she lived a man's life, and shocked everybody by preferring to be waited on by valets instead of maids. When she arrived at the Court she was alone, without ladies, servants, equipages or money of her own. "It was necessary to give her even valets to serve her and undress her...", wrote Mme. de Motteville. "In no way did she resemble a woman; she had not even the necessary modesty; she let men wait upon her in her most private hours; she affected to be a man in all her actions; she laughed immoderately when anything pleased her." She "put her legs up on seats as high as the one she was sitting on; and showed them too freely."
La Grande Mademoiselle was equally shocked when she saw her. Learning that Queen Christina was at Fontainebleau, Mademoiselle was sent there on the return journey from Forges. She sent a message begging to know when she might have the honour of an interview, and desiring information regarding the manner in which she would be received. She was told to choose her own conditions, and she asked for an arm-chair so that she might sit in Christina's presence, to mark her equality of rank and birth. "The queen", she wrote describing the meeting, "was in a beautiful room à l'Italienne, surrounded by a large company." Having asked Mademoiselle to be seated, the latter established herself in the arm-chair, and together they witnessed a ballet which was proceeding in the next room. Mademoiselle was astonished at her appearance, which she thought resembled that of a pretty little boy. "After the ballet", continued Mademoiselle in her Memoirs, "we went to the play. Here she surprised me very much, applauding the parts which pleased her, taking God to witness, throwing herself back in her chair, crossing her legs, resting them on the arms of her chair, and assuming other postures, such as I have never seen taken but by Trivelin and Jodelet, two famous buffoons. She repeated the verses that pleased her, spoke on several subjects, saying everything in a very agreeable manner. Then she sank into a profound reverie, drawing very deep sighs; and recovering herself suddenly, as a person who awakes in surprise. She was in all respects a most extraordinary creature."
One of her absurdities is described by Madame Elisabeth-Charlotte in her Correspondence. The story was told her by Louis XIV: "She never wore night-caps, but she twisted a towel round her head. Once, not being able to sleep, she had music played beside her bed. As the concert pleased her[,] she suddenly protruded her head beyond the curtains and called out, 'Devil's death! how well they play!'" The musicians were so terrified at this apparition that they could not perform another note.
Whilst at the French Court in 1656 Christina showed great want of tact, and earned the disapproval of Anne of Austria. She encouraged Louis XIV in his passion for Marie de Mancini, and indiscreetly remarked to him, "If I were in your place[,] I would marry the woman I loved." The queen-mother was furious, and hastened Christina's departure, who was thereupon induced to set out for Italy. When she arrived in Rome [sic][,] it was to discover that the plague was raging there, and she thought it well to return to France.
Above: Kristina.
Note: G*psy is a commonplace but derogatory term and exonym for the Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group of Rajasthani origin living mostly throughout Europe (particularly in the Balkan countries in the southeast of the continent) but also in the Middle East, the Americas, Africa and Australia, traditionally nomadic and itinerant with an endogamous clan-based society with different subgroups in different regions. They are unfortunately stereotyped as fortune-tellers, thieves, criminals and con artists even today and have suffered terrible persecutions throughout their history and are consequently and rightfully wary of non-Roma people, who they call gadji. The Europeans assumed they came from Egypt, which resulted in the word g*psy and its equivalent words in other languages commonly being used for the Roma.
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