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Christina, Queen of Sweden: The Restless Life of a European Eccentric.
Buckley, Veronica (author).
Oct. 2004. 384p. HarperCollins/Fourth Estate, hardcover, $24.95 (0-06-073617-8). 948.5.
REVIEW.
First published October 15, 2004 (Booklist).
One of the standouts in a long line of self-indulgent European royals, Christina, with her eccentricities, merits Buckley’s close attention. From the moment of her birth in 1626, when she was mistakenly identified as a boy, to the time of her death in 1689, she ardently pursued an extraordinarily extravagant life characterized by an emotionally contrary nature. Many have speculated about her seemingly ambiguous sexuality, but, as Buckley discerns, her refusal to even contemplate marriage evidences both an independent temperament and an essentially asexual orientation. Formally ascending the Swedish throne in 1644, she proved to be a lavish and fiscally irresponsible monarch, leading Sweden to the verge of bankruptcy in six short years. Restless and bored, she longed for intellectual and physical warmth, cultural enlightenment, and adventure. Abdicating in 1654, she converted to Catholicism, moved to Rome, and undertook a bold and ultimately disastrous plan to seize the throne of Naples. Proud, impulsive, and willful, Christina was convinced she had the divine right to lead her life by her own rules. — Margaret Flanagan
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