WI: Christina of Sweden became Queen of Naples

Spain at that time ruled Milan, Sicily and the kingdom of Naples. The French politician Mazarin, an Italian himself, had attempted to liberate Naples from the Spanish rule against which the locals had fought; but an expedition in 1654 had failed in this. Mazarin was now considering Christina as a possible queen for Naples. The locals wanted no Italian duke on the throne; they would prefer a French prince. In the summer of 1656 Christina set sail for Marseille and from there travelled to Paris to discuss the matter. Officially it was said that she was negotiating her alimony arrangement with the Swedish king.
On 22 September 1656, the arrangement between her and Louis XIV was ready. He would recommend Christina as queen to the Napolitans, and serve as guarantee against Spanish aggression. On the following day she left for Pesaro, where she settled down while waiting for the outcome of this. As Queen of Naples she would be financially independent of the Swedish king, and also capable of negotiating peace between France and Spain.
Mazarin however found another arrangement to ensure peace; he strengthened this with a marriage arrangement between Louis XIV and his first cousin, Maria Theresa of Spain - the wedding took place in 1660. But this was unknown to Christina, who sent different messengers to Mazarin to remind him of their plan. In the summer of 1657 she herself returned to France, officially to visit the papal city of Avignon.
(from wikipedia.org)
So what would happen if Christina, former Queen of Sweden, had actually become Queen of Naples?
 

Vitruvius

Donor
I can't help but think that this would have improved the situation in Naples, to have a vigorous intelligent Monarch actually residing in the Kingdom. However I'm not sure what the long term effects would be. IIRC Mazarin selected Christina because she had no heirs nor was she likely to produce any. Therefore she could act as a stand in monarch until the time when there was a Bourbon of the royal blood to take her place. At the time Louis XIV was still young and unmarried with no heirs so it was deemed to risky to send his brother to Naples since he would then have to give up the French succession.

So when Christina dies you're likely to see some kind of War of Neapolitan Succession that probably is linked with the wider French conflict that was OTL's Nine Years War/War of the League of Augsburg. I can't imagine Naples would go back to Spain at that point but rather to one of the three claimants to the Spanish throne, Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria, Archduke Charles of Austria or Philip Duc d'Anjou. Maybe Christina could name a preferred heir before she dies. Either way a long siege based war like this one is liable to destroy and progress made under her reign.
 

Vitruvius

Donor
What would her rule have looked like?

Hard to say. I honestly am not too terribly familiar with Christina's tenure in Sweden, other than that she acquitted herself well and was a patron of the arts. There are several factors that would affect her rule. The most obvious being that, at least initially, she would be acting somewhat as a French agent. The French would be subsidizing her rule and likely maintaining garrisons in Naples to ensure it remains in a French orbit and passes as pre-arranged by Treaty to Philip Duc D'Orleans on Christina's death. That's likely to limit her range of action especially in foreign policy.

Then of course there's the Napolitani that she'll have to appease. Sure the locals are keen to invite her in when they're trying to throw off the Spanish yoke but once it comes down to governing they might not be as cooperative. Her resources are intially going to be limited to French subsidies and what she can extract locally until and unless she can reform the Neapolitan state and grow the economy trade etc. The balance at court between imported/imposed French ministers, Christina's entourage and Napolitani will be a delicate one and crucial to the success of her rule.

Best case scenario is that the Franco-Neapolitan force can repel the Spanish and force Spain to come to terms with France. Naples is then returned to its status as a relative backwater where Christina can safely cultivate a new royal court and slowly reform the government. As a non-dynastic ruler its hard to say how far she'd press fundamental reforms. Given her interest in art and music its possible that Naples could rival Rome as the center of Baroque art and culture but there's a big if implicit in that statement. If she could break even a bit from the French orbit and make Naples self sufficient it could turn out a lot like what Savoy eventually developed into except there's no one to carry on after her. That's my best guess anyways.
 
Kristina had very little administrative sense. She freely distributet crown land, which the Swedish state was dependent on, to favourites and as guarantees to loans needed to continue to patron the arts and a roaring court life with grand parties and luxury spending. When she abdicated, the Swedish crown was close to bakrupt and with very little future income since she had given away massive amounts of state-owned land to tax-exempt nobility.

Land ownership of the nobility went from about 1/3 to 2/3 during the reign of Gustav II Adolf and Kristina (most if her fault). She doubled the nobility in size and gave away huge tracts of land to her favourites.

In short, she was a spender who cared little for the future in Sweden, I don't think she would have been different in Naples.
 
Top