Ice Queen

The homely lady above is our 119th hero(ine) of the day. Her name is Christina (of Sweden), and she was born this day 1626 in Stockholm, Sweden. At her birth she was mistaken for a boy child because she was a bit hairy, and screamed so loud they mistook her for a boy. Her father, a fine king in his own right (Gustaf II), did not seem to care. He was happy to have an heir as he was about to march off to war, and get his fool self killed (though he did not know it at the time). Her father gave orders for Christina to be raised a prince, and she took the oath as a king, not as a queen, giving rise to her nickname "the Girl King." Before he left for war, her father secured Christina's right to succeed him if he were to be killed in battle. He was killed, and Christina became king/queen of Sweden at the ripe old age of six. The most enduring thing that I remember from my classical education about Christina is that she was deeply interested in philosophy, and convinced the French philosopher Rene Descartes to move to Sweden in order to tutor her. Not a bad tutor to have I would think that Descartes would be a pretty good tutor to put on your "taught by" list. However, Descartes was not used to or ready for the Swedish winters he had to endure, and caught pneumonia and died. It does appear that Christina was distraught with guilt, which does make some sense as she secretly converted to Catholicism at some point, and Catholics love them some guilt. However, Sweden was VERY much Lutheran at the time. This switch in religion, and a desire to no longer be Queen (including the fact that she was not too interested in marrying and begetting an heir) led to her abdicating the throne in 1654. She lived out most of the remainder of her life in Rome, getting into adventures, and generally causing all sorts of lovely rumours to be spread about her. But, for giving up her crown for her faith, and a deep seated interest in knowledge rather than power, Christina (of Sweden) (December 18th 1626-April 19th 1689, at the age of 62), you are my heroine of the day.