
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


An accomplished young horsewoman who loved fencing and male attire, the 17th-century Swedish Queen Christina was anything but a conventional princess. And she kept springing surprises on her court and country: after just a decade on the throne she abdicated, converted to Catholicism and moved to Rome. Once there, she put herself forward as a candidate for the post of queen of Naples, opened a public theatre and scandalised the Holy See by a liaison with a cardinal. Bridget Kendall follows Christina's adventures with biographer Veronica Buckley, and historians Stefano Fogelberg Rota and Therese Sjovoll.
Photo: Christina of Sweden by Jacob Heinrich Elbfas, 1640s
By BBC World Service4.7
265265 ratings
An accomplished young horsewoman who loved fencing and male attire, the 17th-century Swedish Queen Christina was anything but a conventional princess. And she kept springing surprises on her court and country: after just a decade on the throne she abdicated, converted to Catholicism and moved to Rome. Once there, she put herself forward as a candidate for the post of queen of Naples, opened a public theatre and scandalised the Holy See by a liaison with a cardinal. Bridget Kendall follows Christina's adventures with biographer Veronica Buckley, and historians Stefano Fogelberg Rota and Therese Sjovoll.
Photo: Christina of Sweden by Jacob Heinrich Elbfas, 1640s

7,698 Listeners

367 Listeners

889 Listeners

1,042 Listeners

5,429 Listeners

1,794 Listeners

3,195 Listeners

952 Listeners

862 Listeners

604 Listeners

278 Listeners

294 Listeners

1,781 Listeners

1,084 Listeners

1,923 Listeners

513 Listeners

299 Listeners

348 Listeners

163 Listeners

354 Listeners

3,192 Listeners

733 Listeners

1,617 Listeners