Plot
Queen Christina of Sweden (Greta Garbo) is very devoted to her country and the welfare of her people. As Queen, Christina favours peace for Sweden. At one point in the film she argues for an end to the Thirty Years' War, saying:
"Spoils, glory, flags and trumpets! What is behind these high-sounding words? Death and destruction, triumphals of crippled men, Sweden victorious in a ravaged Europe, an island in a dead sea. I tell you, I want no more of it. I want for my people security and happiness. I want to cultivate the arts of peace, the arts of life. I want peace and peace I will have!"
Christina, who first took the throne at age 6 upon the death of her father in battle, is depicted as so devoted to both governing well and educating herself that she has spurned any kind of serious romance or marriage despite pressures from her councilors and court to marry her hero-cousin Karl Gustav (Reginald Owen) and produce an heir. One day, in an effort to escape the restrictions of her royal life, she sneaks out of town, disguised as a man, and ends up snowbound at an inn, where she has to share a bed with also stranded Spanish envoy Antonio (John Gilbert) on his way to the capital. After befriending, and upon revealing that she is a woman, then sharing the same bed, the two fall in love, however she still has not revealed that she is the queen. After a few idyllic nights together, Christina and Antonio are compelled to part, but Christina promises to find him in Stockholm – which she does, when the Spaniard presents his embassy to the Queen, whom he recognises as his lover.
When Count Magnus (Ian Keith), who wants the Queen's affections for his own, riles up the people against the Spaniard, Christina abdicates the throne, nominating her groom Karl Gustav as her successor while declining to marry him. She leaves Sweden to catch up with Don Antonio who has just been deported to the neighbouring country, but she finds him gravely wounded from a swords duel he had with Magnus, which he lost, and he dies in her arms. She resolves to proceed with her voyage to Spain where she envisions residing in Antonio's home on the white cliffs overlooking the sea.
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