Source:
Memoirs of celebrated female sovereigns, volume 1, pages 71 to 79, by Anna Brownell Jameson, 1831; original at the University of Toronto
The biography:
In August 1656, on pretence of escaping from the malaria, she left Rome, and proceeded to Paris, whither she had been invited by the French court: to defray the expenses of this journey, she was under the necessity of pawning her jewels for 12,000 ducats, so low was she reduced in purse and credit. The King of France sent the Duke of Guise, to receive her, and commanded that everywhere the same honours should be paid as to a crowned head; so that her progress through the French provinces, from Marseilles to Paris, resembled a triumphant procession, rather than a journey.
Mademoiselle de Montpensier, who met her at Fontainebleau, has left us, in her entertaining, gossiping memoirs, an account of her interview, and of the person, dress, and manners of Christina, at this time: she was now in her thirtieth year. "I had heard", says Mademoiselle, "so much of her bizarreries, that I was afraid lest, on seeing her for the first time, I should have laughed in her face; but though she astonished me beyond measure, it was not in a manner to provoke a smile. She was of a small, slight figure, a little deformed, with light eyes, an aquiline nose, a large mouth, fine teeth, and a very expressive countenance: her dress was a short grey petticoat, laced with gold and silver; a flame-coloured doublet, also laced with gold; a lace cravat, and a black hat, with a plume of feathers." Her manners were coarse and masculine; she swore commonly, laughed loud, astonished Mademoiselle de Montpensier by throwing her legs over the arm of her chair, and was sometimes seized with strange fits of absence, from which she would recover as from a dream. While they were looking at some fireworks, one or two of the rockets fell near them. The princess started and shrunk back; on which Christina laughed without ceremony, saying, that for her part, she knew not what fear was; and that there was nothing she so much longed for as to be present at a battle; that she should not die content unless this wish was gratified. She professed an unbounded contempt for her own sex; and her conversation, though full of vivacity, was so eccentric and audacious, that it put even men out of countenance. On the 8th of September she made her public entry into Paris; she was received on this occasion with all the honours due to her as a sovereign, and all the chivalrous gallantry which was then the fashion in the French court, and was supposed to be due to her, as a queen and a woman. She was preceded by a body of a thousand cavalry, and was herself mounted on a superb white charger, in her usual masculine attire, and with pistols at her saddle-bow: by her side rode the Duc de Guise; and fifty picked men of the royal body-guard, and fifty of the king's pages were in attendance on her person. There was also an immense number of the nobility mounted or in carriages; while an innumerable multitude of people, collected together by their own curiosity, as well as by the king's proclamation, rent the air with shouts, and regarded her extraordinary appearances and Amazonian dress and deportment with an astonishment not unmingled with admiration. Christina, who, with all her philosophy, appears to have been childishly susceptible to external excitement, looked round her with extreme self-complacency. It was the last time that she was destined to wear her regal honours publicly. At the gate of Paris she was met by the Mareschal d'Hôpital, who conducted her first to the church of Notre Dame, where a solemn Te Deum was performed; thence to the Louvre, where she was lodged and entertained with truly royal magnificence. The same day she was visited by Henrietta Maria of England, the nobility, the principal clergy, and a deputation from the French academy. After remaining at Paris three days, during which time she was absolutely besieged by addresses, visits, public speeches, and honours, and flatteries in every form, she set off for Compiegne, where the court then resided. On the road she dined and slept at Chantilly, where she was met by Cardinal Mazarin. Here the young king and his brother mingled incognito with the crowd who surrounded her, and were introduced by the Cardinal as two gentlemen of rank: but the penetration of Christina was not at fault; she immediately recognised them, and addressed the king as "*Mon frère", but without otherwise designating his quality. It is remarked, as an instance of her singular power of fascinating those whom she wished to please, that Louis, who was only nineteen, at that time timid in all female society, and as shy as excessive pride and a consciousness of his own neglected education could make him, was won by this philosophical Amazon. She placed him at his ease by the frankness of her own manner, and by some well-timed compliments; and from the first moment, they conversed together with mutual pleasure. After this interview, the king galloped back to Compiegne.
The next day, Christina proceeded on her journey, accompanied by Cardinal Mazarin, and a few leagues from Compiegne, was met by the queen-mother, Anne of Austria; the king, the princes and the chief persons of the royal household. The interview took place at the house of the Mareschal de la Motte-Houdancourt. Christina was attended by the Duc de Guise, and the celebrated Duc de Rochefoucauld. She had no suite, except two or three persons, hardly above the rank of menial servants. "Herself alone", says Madame de Motteville, "composed her whole court." The same lady, who was an eye-witness of this interview, which she describes in her memoirs with many picturesque circumstances, confesses, that at the first glance the queen of Sweden not only surprised, but almost terrified her. In truth, we can easily imagine that Christina, with her various eccentricities of dress and manner, and her total disregard to decorum, must have appeared in the eyes of a lady of the bedchamber, in a magnificent and ceremonious court, as nothing less than portentous. On this occasion, she had on a black wig, considerably disordered by the wind, and all awry on her head; her complexion appeared course and sunburnt; she had no gloves, and her hands were so dirty, that the original colour could not be distinguished; she wore a shirt and a vest, after the masculine fashion, put on very negligently; and a short grey petticoat, embroidered with gold and silver; she held a riding-whip in her hand. Whatever might have been the amazement of Anne of Austria and her court at this strange apparition, for which no previous description could have prepared them, courtly etiquette forbade the slightest expression of it. The king himself, the most fastidious of men, took one of those unlady-like hands, and led Christina forward into a saloon, where a splendid collation was served. The two queens, with the king and Monsieur, sat down to table, and the court stood round gazing on the stranger with unrepressed curiosity. Madame de Motteville observes, that after the first half-hour her sentiments changed, and the same person, whom but a short time before she could have mistaken for "une Egyptienne dévergondée", she could not help considering with interest, and even with admiration.
The next day when she appeared with her wig newly frizzled and powdered, her hands washed, and her dress adjusted with some regard to feminine propriety, she made a more favourable impression. Anne of Austria, on retiring to her chamber, confessed to her ladies that though she was at first alarmed and disgusted, she could not resist the vivacity of Christina's manners, and the odd fascination which hung about her.
"'Twas thus Christina every heart alarmed,
Awed without virtue, without beauty charmed;
Strange fancies still, and stranger flights she had,
Was just not ugly, and was just not mad."
During her stay at the French Court, she had sufficient tact to avoid appearing pedantic; she talked well upon every subject, and rallied those around her with much liveliness. She contrived at the same time to keep presumption at a distance; and uncrowned, and unattended as she was, and in spite of a wry wig and dirty hands, "elle faisait la maitresse partout", and put all etiquette out of countenance. After staying a week at Compiegne, she returned to Paris, where she remained till the beginning of November, and then set out for Rome. Her departure formed a curious contrast with her reception: she travelled in a hired carriage with a few attendants, and her expenses through France were defrayed by the King. It is said that she was suspected of a wish to captivate Louis, with a view of marrying him; a design so preposterous, that we cannot believe that she entertained it for a moment. But the suspicion was enough to make the Queen Regent and the Cardinal hasten her departure.
Above: Kristina.
Above: Anna Brownell Jameson.
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