A lesbian saint?

Greta Garbo stars in the title role of Queen Christina in the classic 1933 movie of the same name. The bumph on the cassette box breathlessly told me everything I needed to know about the delightful queer coding in this film: La Garbo plays opposite John Gilbert, her real romantic interest at the time, and sparks fly on screen. In truth, Gilbert was really rather busy with other men. And off camera, Garbo was more likely interested in her lady-in-waiting. As for the film: Her majesty dresses up as a man to escape the dreary trappings of royal life, only to fall in love with a visiting male dignitary. Hijinks and tragedy ensue.

There's now a newish biography of her imperialness, who lived from 1626 to 1689. It's Veronica Buckley's "Christina, Queen of Sweden: The Restless Life of a European Eccentric." Critic David Williams has sent out advance word of his review, which will appear in the April issue of the queer Kentucky newspaper, The Letter. "A woman of her own mind who never married, did as she pleased, and loved to decorate: what's not to love?" he asks.

"Initially it appeared to me that Buckley was trying to devalue Christina's lesbian leanings, and I had to ask myself: what more proof do you need? Aren't her love letters, strong evidence of her same-sex affairs, and all that juicy gossip, enough? Fortunately, Buckley does end up admitting -- though grudgingly, [that she] thought that Christina had a few lesbian flings. Whew! And here I thought I was going to have to endure another heterosexual whitewash."

Williams also writes that Christina was exasperating and thoughtless. "That's why we might think twice before canonizing her as a lesbian saint. She wasn't a very good ruler, nor was she much of a friend to most. After she abdicated the throne, converted to Roman Catholicism, and ran off to Rome, she spent the remainder of her life restlessly, even aimlessly. She never seems to have had much purpose to her life. We're left to ponder what she might have accomplished if she'd been a little more intelligent and much less spoiled." So. Should we canonize the foolish? Or only "proper" lesbians?