Source:
Memoirs of Christina, Queen of Sweden, volume 1, pages 199 to 212, by Henry Woodhead, 1863; original at the University of Michigan
Kristina's letter to Karl Gustav, of January 5/15 (Old Style), 1644, is here:
Her letter to him, of October 13/23 (Old Style), 1646, is here:
Her letter to him, which is undated but probably written on January 25/February 4 (Old Style), 1647, is here:
Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie's letter to Karl Gustav, of July 24/August 3 (Old Style), 1647, is here:
Karl Gustav's diary entries of August 10 and 11/20 and 21 (Old Style), 1647 are here:
Karl Gustav's diary entry of June 15/25 (Old Style), 1648 is here:
The account:
The only one of her suitors who ever appeared to have had a chance of succeeding, was her cousin, Charles Gustavus. He, as well as Catharine's other children, was brought up with Christina, and he resembled her the most in talents and disposition. They continually talked, danced, and played together, and they were called, in joke, the little bride and bridegroom. The Princess Catharine naturally favoured an intercourse which might lead to her son becoming King of Sweden. Charles Gustavus was sent to the University of Upsala when he was fifteen years old, after which he travelled in Holland, Germany, France, and England. He returned to Sweden in 1640, and as the children grew up, play was changed to earnest, and for some time an engagement existed between them. The Prince joined the Swedish army in 1642, where he greatly distinguished himself. Christina wrote several letters to him in 1643 and 1644, which have only very lately been published. They all contain assurances of unchanging truth and affection.
One of them, of which the original is still preserved, is soiled and crumpled, and is supposed to have been carried in his bosom by the young lover. It is dated the 5th of January, 1644: —
"BELOVED COUSIN, —
"I see by your letter that you do not venture to trust your thoughts to the pen. We may, however, correspond with all freedom, if you send me the key to a cipher, and compose your letters according to it, and change the seals as I do with mine. Then the letters may be sent to your sister, the Princess Maria. You must take every precaution, for never were people here so much against us as now, but they shall never succeed, so long as you remain firm. They talk a great deal of the Elector of Brandenburg, but neither he, nor any one in the world, however rich they may be, shall ever alienate my heart from you. My love is so strong that it can only be overcome by death, and if, which God forbid, you should die before me, my heart shall remain dead for every other, my mind and affection shall follow you to eternity, there to dwell with you.
"Perhaps some will advise you to demand my hand openly, but I beseech you, by all that is holy, to have patience for some time, until you have acquired some reputation in the war, and until I have the crown on my head. I entreat you not to consider this time long, but to think of the old saying, 'He does not wait too long, who waits for something good.' I hope, by God's blessing, that it is a good we both wait for."
The opposition hinted at here arose from the clergy, who for some reasons of their own wished to prevent the match. They, of course, represented their own interests as the cause of Heaven, and grounded their opposition on the relationship between the royal personages. Their hypocrisy was proved by the fact that when an archbishop, who was devoted to Charles Gustavus, was installed at Upsala, the opposition of the clergy ceased at once. By that time it was too late, for it must be confessed that in the interval Christina had changed her mind. She assumed the Government in 1644, and for nearly two years few traces are discovered of her correspondence with the Prince. At the beginning of this interval Magnus de la Gardie came to court, at the end of it the Prince returned from Germany, and a great change then appeared in Christina's sentiments towards him.
She says to him, in October, 1646: — "Do not take it ill that I owe it to myself not to let anything in the world disturb my peace."
Another time she says: "Do not fear that the expression of your feelings will displease me: as a proof of your regard they are pleasing to me, so long as you keep them within the bounds which are prescribed by your cousin and friend, Christina."
The change in her feelings must have taken place about 1645. Was it caused by the development of her absolute, independent spirit; by a suspicion of the Prince's inconstancy; or by a stronger passion for Magnus de la Gardie?
Charles Gustavus professed to take his disappointment very much to heart. He expressed to Christina herself, and to his friends, his determination to leave Sweden for ever if she rejected him, yet it appears he was more comforted than he would allow, by her promise to get him nominated her successor if she did not marry him.
There is some evidence to show that, when only nineteen years old, she had already begun to consider the appointment of a successor, and her own abdication. Some documents lately published, however, give curious information on the matter, from which it would appear that the subject of a successor was urged upon her. One of these documents, which recommends that her successor should be of the royal family, is sealed with Gyllenhielm's seal, and has a memorandum upon it, that it was written for Prince Charles Gustavus's approval.
In 1647 Magnus de la Gardie was married to her cousin, and Christina then seemed a little more favourable to the Prince.
She invited him to Court to attend his sister's wedding. She told him, however, that she had no longer any attachment for him, and that, if she consented to the marriage, it would be for the sake of the country, not for his sake or her own. Lenœus, a warm partisan of the Prince's, became archbishop about this time, and the clergy were soon as much in favour of the union of the cousins as they had hitherto been opposed to it, but with Christina's ideas about marriage it was much easier to set her against such a step than it was to make her change her mind again. The States once more addressed her on the subject, and humbly prayed her to choose a husband.
She thanked them for their affection, and asked whether, if she chose the Prince, he would be acceptable to the representatives of the nation. The deputies answered, that if Her Majesty should be pleased to choose the Prince, Sweden would gladly accept him.
It was now believed by many that she was about to marry Charles Gustavus, but as Chanut sagaciously observed, "No one can give a decided opinion in these sort of affairs until the event has actually taken place." Christina had by this time determined not to marry, and probably only asked the opinion of the States about the Prince that she might shift the onus upon them, in case, as appeared very likely, they should object to him. Her behaviour to Charles Gustavus was now very uncertain. She made him large grants of the towns of Torshälla and Eskilstunda [sic], and the castles of Käfsnäs [sic] and Ulfsunda.
Oxenstiern's opinion was asked about these gifts. He remained a whole hour silent, and at the end of that time replied, "I wish my opinion had never been asked on so weighty a matter, for I do not know Her Majesty's intentions towards the Prince. If the Queen marries him, these grants are by no means too large; in any other case, I entirely dissent from so important an alienation of Crown property."
Magnus de la Gardie wrote to the Prince in July, 1647: "The opposer, Oxenstiern, is now absent; now or never push your courtship, for I perceive favourable sentiments in the Queen. Audaces fortuna juvat. You must drive away all fear and go to work boldly. There are hearts that will be won, but will not give themselves away. Many defend themselves valiantly who wish nothing better than to be conquered; in such an important affair everything is to be risked."
Charles Gustavus followed his brother-in-law's advice, and endeavoured to press his suit; but Christina told him she could give him no more hope than before; she endeavoured to console him, however, by telling him that she would make him Generalissimo of the army in Germany the following year. The Prince answered that it was herself he sought, and that, if she refused him, he should prefer to join the army at once. She took offence at this, and told him that, if he persisted in such a course, he would have nothing but his colonelcy, and that their engagement would be irretrievably broken off. The Prince was obstinate, and she ended by wishing him sharply a pleasant journey.
It was with difficulty that Brahe, De la Gardie, and Matthiæ persuaded her to receive his apologies, and to grant him another interview.
In the meeting which ensued, the Prince made a final attempt to urge her to consent, and reminded her of the engagement which had existed between them from childhood. The Queen refused to admit the plea, and said she would not be bound by a promise made when she was so young. She told him that she would not determine finally until she was 25 years of age, and until after her coronation, but that, if she did not marry him, she would never marry any other, and that she would endeavour to get him appointed her successor. The Prince replied that if he could not be her husband[,] he did not wish ever to return to Sweden. Christina told him that his ideas were too romantic, and so the interview ended, but the Prince was permitted to correspond with her through Matthiæ.
She hardly knew her own mind about him at this time, but everything shows that she felt an interest in him, bordering, at least, on affection. Her gifts to him were munificent; she was already taking measures to secure him the crown of Sweden, and she appointed him Generalissimo of her army. As the Prince sailed from Stockholm to take his command, she watched him from a terrace overlooking the sea, to the last moment.
It seems evident that Christina was, at one time, in love with Charles Gustavus, and it is, at least, probable, that she was afterwards attached to Magnus de la Gardie. So far from this justifying the attacks which have been made on her fame, it appears that she sacrificed her own inclinations with a degree of generosity and self-control very little in accordance with the opinions usually entertained of her. She could not help the change in her feelings. The Prince did not grow up an attractive man; his figure was short and thick-set, his features plain and rather coarse, so that Christina used, in joke, to call him the little Burgomaster; his talents, although considerable, were not of an elegant or interesting kind. His failure may be attributed, in a greater degree, to his own fault than to Christina's fickleness. His letters, which are preserved, speak of his duty and obedience, but not of his love.
During his courtship of Christina he did not even take the trouble to conceal his intrigues with other ladies. At the very time that he was presenting his suit the most urgently, he had a son by the daughter of a merchant at Stockholm.
It was natural that Christina should be disgusted with such a lover, and that she should be fascinated by the handsome and polished De la Gardie.
The great master of human nature has several times described a similar transition from love to indifference, and in each case the cause has been the same: —
"As one nail by strength drives out another,
So the remembrance of a former love
Is by a newer object quite forgotten."
Magnus possessed all the qualities in which Charles Gustavus was deficient. Gay [cheerful], handsome, and accomplished, he was just intellectual enough to make his conversation agreeable with the assistance of his other advantages.
Whatever preference she felt for him, Christina had too much regard for her own dignity to marry him.
Magnus was engaged to Charles Gustavus's sister. Christina had been warmly attached to their mother, and her marriage with the young Count would have inflicted a deep wound on both brother and sister. Christina behaved like a high-minded woman; she encouraged the marriage of De la Gardie with her cousin, and loaded him with benefits; but she gave him appointments which took him from Sweden.
She gave Charles Gustavus a solemn promise never to marry any other, to atone for the wrong she did when she withdrew her plighted faith from him. This promise had a more important object than merely to soothe his vanity or appease his jealousy; it was intended to show that his chance of succeeding to the throne would not be weakened by her marriage with another.
Her efforts to get him named her successor were not confined to negative acts. She used every exertion to gain this object, and only held her own authority until it was accomplished.
Charles Gustavus was much piqued at his rejection, and he probably preferred a divided crown at once, to the distant prospect of having it on his own head. He talked in the most romantic strain to his friend Lorenzo Linde [sic], of turning all his property into ready money, of assuming a feigned name, and of seeking his fortune in some foreign war.
Christina said at a later period that De la Gardie treacherously set her against the Prince, while pretending to advocate his cause; and Whitelock, when ambassador at Stockholm, heard a similar account from the senator Vandelin [sic].
According to De la Gardie's letters and those of his wife, it appears that he did his best to promote the marriage, and after his own union with Maria Euphrosyne, it is difficult to see what motive he could have had for betraying his friend and brother-in-law.
Above: Kristina.
Above: Karl Gustav.
Above: Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie.
Above: Marie Euphrosyne.
Notes: truth = fidelity.
plighted = pledged, promised.
faith = faithfulness, fidelity.
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