Christina of Sweden (1626 - 1689). Christina, the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and his wife Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, reigned as Queen of Sweden from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. At the age of six, Christina succeeded her father upon his death at the Battle of Lützen, but began ruling the Swedish Empire when she reached the age of 18 in 1644. Christina is remembered as one of the most learned women of the 17th century. She was fond of books, manuscripts, paintings, and sculptures. With her interest in religion, philosophy, mathematics and alchemy, she attracted many scientists to Stockholm, wanting the city to become the Athens of the North. She caused a scandal when she decided not to marry, and in 1654 when she abdicated her throne and converted to Roman Catholicism. Baptized as Kristina Augusta, she adopted the name Christina Alexandra. Christina's financial extravagance brought the state to the verge of bankruptcy, and the financial difficulties caused public unrest after ten years of ruling. At the age of 28, the Minerva of the North relinquished the throne to her cousin and moved to Rome. The Pope described Christina asa queen without a realm, a Christian without faith, and a woman without shame. Notwithstanding, she played a leading part in the theatrical and musical community and protected many Baroque artists, composers, and musicians. Being the guest of five consecutive popes, and a symbol of the Counter Reformation, she is one of the few women buried in the Vatican grotto. Her unconventional lifestyle and masculine dressing have been featured in countless novels, plays, operas, and film. In all the biographies about Christina, her gender and cultural identity play an important role. Christina was born in the royal castle Tre Kronor on 18 December 1626. Her parents were the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus and his German wife, Maria Eleonora. They had already had two daughters, a stillborn princess in 1620, and then the first Princess Christina, who was born in 1623 and died the following year. Excited expectation surrounded Maria Eleonora's third pregnancy in 1626. When the baby was born, it was first thought to be a boy as it was hairy and screamed with a strong, hoarse voice. She later wrote in her autobiography that, Deep embarrassment spread among the women when they discovered their mistake. The king, though, was very happy, stating, She'll be clever, she has made fools of us all! From most accounts, Gustav Adolf appears to have been closely attached to his daughter, and she appears to have admired him greatly. The Crown of Sweden was hereditary in the House of Vasa, but from King Charles IX's time onward, it excluded Vasa princes descended from a deposed brother and a deposed nephew. Gustav Adolf's legitimate younger brothers had died years earlier. The one legitimate female left, his half-sister Catharine, came to be excluded in 1615 when she married a non-Lutheran. So Christina became the undisputed heir presumptive. From Christina's birth, King Gustav Adolph recognized her eligibility even as a female heir, and although called queen, the official title she held as of her coronation by the Riksdag in February 1633 was king. Before Gustav Adolf left for Germany to defend Protestantism in the Thirty Years' War, he secured his daughter's right to inherit the throne, in case he never returned, and gave orders to Axel Gustafsson Banér, his marshal, that Christina should receive an education of the type normally only afforded to boys. Her mother, of the House of Hohenzollern, was a woman of volatile temperament. It is possible she was insane. After the king died on 6 November 1632 on the battlefield, his corpse was brought home in a coffin, with his heart in a separate box. Maria Eleonora ordered that the king should not be buried until she could be buried with him. She also demanded that the coffin be kept open, and went to see it regularly, patting it and taking no notice of the putrefaction. Eventually, the embarrassed Chancellor, Axel Oxenstierna, saw no other solution than to have a guard posted at the room to prevent further episodes. As a result, he was not buried until 22 June 1634, more than eighteen months later. In 1634, the Instrument of Government, a new constitution, was introduced by Oxenstierna. The constitution stipulated that the King must have a Privy Council, which was headed by Oxenstierna himself. Maria Eleanora had been indifferent to her daughter but now, belatedly, Christina became the center of her mother's attention.