Christina Queen of Sweden

Contemporary Review, Nov, 2004

Christina Queen of Sweden. Veronica Buckley. Fourth Estate. [pounds sterling]20.00. xv 494 pages. ISBN 1-84115-704-X. Christina remains one of the most fascinating of European sovereigns of any age. She was a highly intelligent and learned woman, mannish in looks and behaviour and with a mind of her own.

After inheriting the throne of Sweden she abdicated, became a Roman Catholic and left Sweden for Rome. The author traces her eventful life against the changing scenes that shifted from the castles of Sweden to the palaces of Papal Rome. Her days as a Catholic were not altogether happy ones and she had her share of difficulties with her new church. Her life is 'a sad tale, in a way, a tale of promise unfulfilled, and of strength thwarted by weakness'. She possessed 'a gifted mind with yet no kernel of genius' and a 'desperate, hopeless seeking to be great'. The author has a strong sense of detached sympathy for her exotic subject, writes well and has carried out an impressive amount of research to produce a thoroughly enjoyable biography. (R.G.H.C.)