Christina Piper

In 1697, her spouse was appointed statsråd and the following year baron and count, and it became clear he had replaced Bengt Gabrielsson Oxenstierna as the perhaps most favored of the advisers of the monarch, a position he kept until 1709.

In 1700, Carl Piper left Sweden in the entourage of Charles XII to participate in the Great Northern War, leaving Christina in charge of the family affairs.

During her second visit, in 1707, Carl Piper was approached by John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, who allegedly offered him a pension in exchange for advising Charles XII to attack Russia.

[3] After the Battle of Poltava, which became disastrous for Sweden, Carl Piper was blamed for having ultimately caused the defeat by persuading Charles XII to the Swedish invasion of Russia having been bribed by Marlborough.

[4] One her way home, she was escorted by the Prince of Württemberg and a large entourage, and visited Berlin, where she was given a grand welcome by the King of Prussia and the royal Prussian court.

During her visit, a statue celebrating the Prussian victory over the Swedes at the Battle of Fehrbellin was removed after she had expressed a dislike for it, and she was given a brilliant bracelet as a gift by the King.

For the rest of her life, she devoted herself to her position as a respected matriarch of her family, and her affairs as a major landowner, and traveled between her estates, having her base at Krageholm Castle in Scania.

She used her position as a landowner to affect the local policies, and became an important figure in national economy: she was one of the greatest financiers of the Great Northern war.