Editing Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg (section)

==Queen dowager==
[[File:Dankaerts-Historis-9327.tif|thumb|Engraving of Maria Eleonora]]
[[File:Maria Eleonora Königin von Schweden.jpg|thumb|Queen Maria Eleonora approx 1650]]

During the next two years Gustavus Adolphus marched across a devastated [[Germany]], conquering [[Pomerania]] and [[Mecklenburg]]. In early November 1632 he went to [[Erfurt]] to say goodbye to Maria Eleonora, who had been in Germany since the previous winter. In the [[Battle of Lützen (1632)|Battle of Lützen]], the 37-year-old Gustavus Adolphus was shot in the back. He fell and was dragged for some distance by his horse. He managed to free himself from the stirrup, but while lying on the ground "The Lion of the North" was killed by another shot through his head. By nightfall both armies were exhausted, but [[Bernard of Saxe-Weimar]] and the Swedes had captured all the Imperial artillery and were in possession of the key position. The king's body was found lying face downwards in the mud, plundered of everything but his shirt.

Maria Eleonora was not included in the regency government during the minority of her daughter, as the council of the state did not consider her suitable as regent. The king had never actually left any instructions that she should not be included in the case of a minor regency, but they supported their grounds for excluding her by the claim that the late king had said to them that she should never be entrusted with matters of state, though he never left any papers to confirm this.<ref>{{cite book |last=Matthis |first=Moa |title=Maria Eleonora: drottningen som sa nej |trans-title=Maria Eleonora: the Queen who said no |year=2010 |publisher=Bonnier |location=Stockholm |language=sv |isbn=978-91-0-011354-4 |id={{LIBRIS|11653883}} }}</ref>{{Page needed|date=November 2017}}  When she was informed that the regency government had been formed in May 1633 and that she had been excluded from it, Maria Eleonora was reportedly offended, and pointed out that her late mother-in-law, [[Christina of Holstein-Gottorp]], had served as regent during the minority of her late spouse. In reply, however, the representative of the regency council, [[Gabriel Gustafsson Oxenstierna]], responded that her information of the regency of queen dowager Christina was highly exaggerated, and that Sweden actually had no tradition to include queen dowagers in minor regencies.<ref>{{cite book |last=Matthis |first=Moa |title=Maria Eleonora: drottningen som sa nej |trans-title=Maria Eleonora: the Queen who said no |year=2010 |publisher=Bonnier |location=Stockholm |language=sv |isbn=978-91-0-011354-4 |id={{LIBRIS|11653883}} |page=94}}</ref> This was in fact a lie: not only had the queen dowager Christina in fact been regent, but king [[Gustav I of Sweden]] had proclaimed his queen [[Margaret Leijonhufvud]] regent in case of a minor regency in 1544, and [[John III of Sweden]] had provided for such a regency for both his first queen, [[Catherine Jagiellon]], as well as for his second, [[Gunilla Bielke]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Tegenborg Falkdalen |first=Karin |title=Margareta Regina: vid Gustav Vasas sida : [en biografi över Margareta Leijonhufvud (1516-1551)] |year=2016 |publisher=Setterblad |location=Stockholm |language=sv |isbn=978-91-981513-1-2 |id={{LIBRIS|19356927}} }}</ref>{{Page needed|date=November 2017}} Maria Eleonora, however, accepted the response, and declared that she would satisfied to entrust politics to others and to be in control of the custody of her daughter.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://sok.riksarkivet.se/Sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=9106 |publisher=[[National Archives of Sweden]] |encyclopedia=[[Svenskt biografiskt lexikon]] |title=Maria Eleonora |first=Åke |last=Kromnow |author-link=Åke Kromnow |year=1985–1987 |volume=25 |page=151 |access-date=2013-12-05 |language=sv}}</ref>

In 1633 Maria Eleonora returned to Sweden with the embalmed body of her husband. In [[Nyköping]], 7-year-old [[Christina of Sweden|Queen Christina]] came in solemn procession to the ship to receive her mother. Later she wrote: "I embraced the queen my mother, she drowned me with her tears and practically smothered me in her arms." For more than a year Maria Eleonora condemned Christina to a mourning seclusion in rooms draped with black and lit by candles day and night, from which every ray of light was excluded. She made her daughter sleep with her in a bed over which her father's heart was hung in a golden casket. Things were made worse by Maria Eleonora's continual weeping. Christina, who also was somewhat malformed with one shoulder higher than the other, also detested her mother's dwarfs and buffoons. She became seriously ill; an ulcer appeared on her left breast, causing her terrible pain and a high fever until it burst. In the summer of 1634 the funeral procession finally wound its way to Stockholm. Queen Christina later wrote about her mother: "She carried out her role of mourning to perfection."{{CN|date=May 2024}}

Maria Eleonora had plunged into a prolonged period of emotional dysregulation due to grief. She found it more difficult than ever to conceal her dislike of Swedish "rocks and mountains, the freezing air, and all the rest of it". During the rest of her life she preserved the memory of her husband, weeping for hours and even days on end. When the regency council tried to separate Christina from her mother, Maria Eleonora wept and protested so bitterly that nothing was done.{{CN|date=May 2024}}

===Relationship with Queen Christina===
{{Unreferenced section|date=May 2024}}
[[File:Mary Eleanor of Sweden grave 2007.jpg|thumb|Maria Eleanor's coffin at [[Riddarholmskyrkan|Riddarholm Church]]]]

In 1636 Maria Eleonora was taken to Gripsholm castle and officially lost her parental rights to her daughter, because at times she was completely out of her mind. In 1639 a letter written by her and intended for Sweden's archenemy, the King [[Christian IV of Denmark]], was intercepted. After a summons, Maria Eleonora appeared at her daughter's court in a flood of tears in the summer of 1640. Queen Christina, 13 years old, reasoned with her mother and dissuaded her from taking up residence at Nyköping near Denmark. Afterwards, Maria Eleonora returned to Gripsholm. To undertake one of her periodic fasts, she retired to the seclusion of her own apartment, accompanied by only one of her ladies-in-waiting, Anna Sofia von Bülow. Maria Eleonora wrote regularly to her daughter Christina.  She and her German court wanted to leave their exile at Gripsholm castle.  Christina replied tactfully, knowing that the Council would not permit the queen mother any leave. Eventually her mother asked to leave Sweden altogether.  Christina invited her to Stockholm, attempting to persuade her to stay in the country.  At night the two ladies let themselves down from a window and were rowed in a boat to the other side of the nearby lake, where a carriage was waiting for them. They drove to Nyköping, where they boarded a Danish ship.  King Christian IV had intended the ship to take her home to Brandenburg, but she convinced the captain to bring her to Denmark instead. She was well received by the Danish king, but Maria Eleonora wanted to go home to Brandenburg. The electoral prince there demanded financial compensation from Sweden, where on the contrary the Council expected to withdraw her appanage as well as her properties.  Finally the teenage Christina succeeded in negotiating a certain alimony for her mother, adding to this from her own purse.

In Denmark, Maria Eleonora became the guest of King [[Christian IV]]. The Elector George William refused to receive his sister in Brandenburg, so Maria Eleonora had to wait until his death in December that year before her nephew gave her permission to visit Brandenburg. Still, the new Elector insisted that Sweden should provide for his aunt's upkeep. She received a small pension of 30,000 écus a year. After a while Maria Eleonora surprisingly started to long for Sweden, and in 1648 she returned. 

Queen Christina went to meet her mother's ship. It was delayed by a storm and the young queen slept in the open for two nights and contracted a fever, which kept her in bed for some days. In October 1650 Maria Eleonora attended her daughter's postponed coronation ceremony. Christina then bought the newly erected castle ''Makalös'' ("Unequalled") for her, close to the royal castle in Stockholm.  It would have been enormously expensive, but Christina never paid.  Instead she handed it back in 1652.

In June 1654, Christina shocked everyone when she decided to abdicate in favour of her cousin [[Charles X Gustav of Sweden|Charles Gustav]]. Maria Eleonora had grave doubts about her daughter's abdication and its possible effect upon her own finances. Christina and Charles Gustav visited her at Nyköping in April 1654 and promised the Queen Dowager that she would be provided for. Christina abdicated June 5, 1654. Maria Eleonora died in March 1655. At that time, ex-Queen Christina was living in Brussels; she converted to Catholicism in December 1655.