Queen Christina of Sweden (1626–1689) was one of the most prominent women of her time. Her life was the subject of much speculation; it was reported in the newspapers, it appeared in historic accounts, as well as in less serious tales – as court gossip – already during the first half of her life. The narratives of Christina formed a diverse corpus of texts that circulated in Europe during the second half of the seventeenth century. Most texts originated from a few sources but they were translated, edited, and re‐written and thus helped to shape a textual life of the queen that was highly contradictory. The many anecdotes surrounding Christina grant the queen a life in the spotlight and turn her into an icon, often representing that which the author wants her to be. This paper deals with the representation of the queen in some of the English translations of texts originally published in Italian and French. It focuses on the narration of life, on the gendering of sovereignty, but also on the use of genre for telling a life story written to suit certain purposes rather than to tell the ‘true story’ of a life.
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