The Girl King

In 1632, at the age of 6, Kristina Vasa became the first native, female sovereign of Sweden when her father died on the battlefield. Raised as a prince, Kristina grows up with ideas for modernizing Sweden and bringing an end to war. She struggles against the conservative forces in court who have no tolerance for these ideas nor for her awakening sexuality and quest for knowledge.

Queen Kristina is an enigmatic young woman, beloved by her father, rejected by her mother and raised in a conservative Lutheran court. She is torn between reason and passion; between the ancient and modern worlds and the brilliance of her educated and curious mind and the pressures in an empire determined to uphold tradition.

Upon her ascent to the Swedish throne, Kristina is thrust into a labyrinth of power in a court dominated by men. They believe she has no other destiny than to marry to produce an heir for the good of the kingdom. Kristina refuses and instead pushes to modernize Sweden. Even her closest ally and the person charged with her upbringing, Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna, expects her to uphold tradition in the fragile political climate and has aspirations for her to carry on the family bloodline with his son, Johan.

In her official inaugural speech at the age of 18, Kristina pronounces her intention to end thirty years of war between Catholics and Protestants and to educate her subjects. Her quest for knowledge draws her to the philosopher, René Descartes and the French Ambassador, Pierre Hector Chanut, who becomes a life-long friend.

She has many suitors, although she refuses them all, intent on pursuing her ideas and fulfilling her duty as queen. Kristina becomes interested in her lady-in-waiting, the beautiful and elegant Countess Ebba Sparre. She anoints her the Queen’s Bed Companion, an important position held by those designated to warm the sheets of their ruler.

The men of the court believe that Ebba is the key to controlling their Queen. They seize Ebba and convince her to marry Count Jakob de la Gardie, to whom she was engaged before meeting Kristina. They underestimate both Kristina's brilliant tactical mind and her awakening discovery of passion and love. At the same time under the tutelage of Descartes she discovers the idea of “free will,” a philosophy at odds with the Lutheran belief in “God’s will.” Kristina is faced with choosing between her country, her father, her people and her religion and living as “who she wants to be.” She chooses to take control of her destiny and to find freedom.