Christina: Queen of Sweden by Veronica Buckley

16th November, 2009 1 Comment

I have no problem admitting that I actually borrowed this book from the library because my name was on the cover.  I’m so vain I probably think this book is about me.

Unless you’re a huge fan of biographies about European royalty, you probably don’t really want to read this book.  Christina:  Queen of Sweden is a rather…unique…individual.

Eccentric might be a better term.  With an affinity for learning, desire to wear male clothing, and loathing of her own sex (coupled with an over-inflated ego to compensate for a rather small amount of self-esteem), Christina abdicated her throne at the age of 28 and then didn’t do much of anything other than get on rulers’ nerves and in their way.  Coming not too long after the reign of Elizabeth I and having her as someone to admire and emulate, it’s hard to fathom that a second such uncontested female ruler should so easily be able to squander all that is given her.

While the book is well written and researched (there isn’t a lack of information or need to speculate too much, nor is there an over-abundance of non-essential detail), it’s rather dull.  Christina lived beyond her means with a sense of entitlement and felt she was more important than she in fact was.  Sounds like the average teenager today.

But because she failed to follow through on all her grand ideas, because she broke gender roles out of personal comfort while still detesting her own sex, she ends up presented as a whiney and annoying spoiled ruler cum tolerated royalty who doesn’t recognize that her power was with the crown and not in her person.  Despite all her unique behavior, once free from the constraints of the position of ruler and all her interests in the sciences, arts, and philosophy, she’s just boring.

Because the book had been in my periphery for quite some time, it was doubly disappointing.  Holding Alison Weir as the gold-standard for biographies, it means many fall quite short of expectations.  As such, it is quite a feat for Buckley to have written an interesting biography about someone so dull.  It’s not a book that pulls the reader in, but it is engaging enough to finish, albeit just not in one sitting.  Good writing cannot save an entire book on someone whom the reader just isn’t able to care about.

Related posts:

1. Happy Birthday, Christina! Even though it’s almost midnight on her side of the...
2. Lucrezia Borgia by Sarah Bradford I really hope the first book of the year is...
3. Welcome, Veronica! I’m very excited to announce that Stacked will now be...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.