![Antonio Pimentel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Antonio_Pimentel.jpg)
Antonio Pimentel de Prado y lo Bianco (
Palermo, 1604 -
Antwerp (c. 1671-72) was a Spanish officer, a governor of
Nieuwpoort (1646–1651), ambassador in Stockholm (1652–1654), Knight of the
Order of Santiago
The Order of Santiago (; es, Orden de Santiago ), is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the Patron Saint of Spain, "Santiago" (St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgri ...
(1658), representative in Paris (1659), governor of Cadiz (1660–1670), and at the end of his life counsel and chief of the army in Antwerp (1670–1672).
Life
About his youth is not much known. His father Lorenzo Pimentel Prado served at the court of the
Duke of Bivona in
Palermo and had three sons: Juan, Antonio and Gregorio. His nephew
Bernardino de Rebolledo
Bernardino de Rebolledo y Villamizar, Earl of Rebolledo and Graf (Count) of the Holy Roman Empire was a Spanish poet, soldier and diplomat ( León, baptized May 31, 1597 - Madrid, March 27, 1676). He was a descendant of the 1st Count of Rebolledo, ...
appointed Antonio Pimentel del Prado as the Spanish ambassador in Sweden. This was the first Spanish mission to Sweden since the reign of
John III of Sweden.
Christina of Sweden
Christina ( sv, Kristina, 18 December ( New Style) 1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death ...
, began negotiations with
Philip IV of Spain
Philip IV ( es, Felipe, pt, Filipe; 8 April 160517 September 1665), also called the Planet King (Spanish: ''Rey Planeta''), was King of Spain from 1621 to his death and (as Philip III) King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640. Philip is remembered ...
in 1651 and had the Swedish diplomat
Matthias Palbitzki sent to the Spanish court. Philip IV, who was looking for good relations, had ordered the Spanish diplomacy to promote Swedish interests anywhere in Europe. The official aim of the embassy in Stockholm was to investigate the military power of Sweden, but the main task was to find out whether the queen had wedding plans, because the balance of power in Europe would be severely affected if Christina married someone hostile to the power of Spain.
Antonio Pimentel arrived in
Dalarö
Dalarö is a locality situated in Haninge Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 1,199 inhabitants in 2010.
It is situated south-east of Stockholm and is part of Metropolitan Stockholm and serves as a recreational summer spot for Stockholm ...
on August 12, 1652, along with his wife, children and an entourage of 50 people, to appear in Stockholm on 16 August, and on 19 August he was received by the queen. The gallant Pimentel quickly became her confidant. He tried to obtain support for her proposal to abdicate. Christina and Pimentel began secret negotiations, often conducted in her library, which gave rise to rumors. She gave him an insight into her plans for the future after abdication.
Departure
Pimentel departed after asking for a large portrait of the Queen as a gift to the King of Spain. This painting by
Sebastien Bourdon was finished in June 1653 and now hangs in the
Prado
The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...
. Before Pimentel's departure in early August, the Queen appointed him a knight of the
Order of Amarante
The Order of Amarante, or Amarante Order (French: ''La frairie d'Amarante''; Swedish: ''Amaranterorden''), was a fraternal order of Swedish knights, founded in 1653 by Queen Christina of Sweden at Epiphany. The Order was established in honor a ...
, whose members vowed never to marry or re-marry
[Henry Woodhea]
''Memoirs of Christina, Queen of Sweden''
In 2 volumes (the order was dissolved in 1654). When he left
Gothenburg, his ship leaked and he was forced to return. Pimentel went with the queen to
Östergötland and followed her to Stockholm. In June 1654, when there was nothing to stand in the way of her conversion, Christina abdicated. She left her country for the Spanish Netherlands to embrace the Catholic faith. Christina continued her friendship with Pimentel, partly because she wanted to mediate between France and Spain who were involved in the
Franco-Spanish War (1635-1659)
Franco-Spanish War may refer to any war between France and Spain, including:
{{disambig
France–Spain military relations ...
.
Pimentel and Christina met again in Brussels in 1655, and he was present when she converted on Christmas Eve of that year. Then he was part of her entourage to Innsbruck and Rome. He left her in 1656 when she made overtures to France. Pimentel later served as a diplomat in Paris and, on behalf of Spain, prepared the
Peace of the Pyrenees
The Treaty of the Pyrenees (french: Traité des Pyrénées; es, Tratado de los Pirineos; ca, Tractat dels Pirineus) was signed on 7 November 1659 on Pheasant Island, and ended the Franco-Spanish War that had begun in 1635.
Negotiations were ...
(October 1659).
Movie portrayal in ''Queen Christina''
In the highly fictionalized 1933 movie ''
Queen Christina'', starring
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragic ch ...
, Pimentel (usually called Antonio or simply "the Spanish envoy") was played by
John Gilbert at the insistence of Garbo, his real-life ex-lover. In the movie the queen, dressed like a man, is slumming anonymously around the winter countryside on horseback and teases Antonio and his small retinue (not including wife and children) for getting his coach stuck in a deep, snow-covered rut in the road. She is taken for a young man and given a 1-thaler tip for providing a solution to the Spaniards' dilemma. She rides on and takes the finest room at the inn she'd recommended to him. Antonio later arrives and insists on the finest room for himself. They work out a bed-sharing compromise, since Christina is still mistaken for a man. Partial disrobing eventually reveals her secret, and Antonio becomes her first truly "soul-freeing" lover. She doesn't tell him she is Christina the Queen, but assures him he will see her soon in Stockholm.
When Pimentel arrives at the Swedish court as Spanish envoy, he is astonished to behold Christina as queen. Their professions of love continue in private. Christina is grateful for being shown what true love and a somewhat normal life could be like in the future. The film does not deal with the true queen's struggle with her faith, nor does it mention Pimentel's family. Right after Christina's 1654 abdication, the movie has Antonio felled in a sword duel and dying in her arms. In actuality, Pimentel had dealings with the ex-queen for a couple more years, and he continued to serve Spain until the early 1670s.
References
External links
Phila MuseumRijks Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pimentel De Prado, Antonio
1604 births
1671 deaths
1650s in Sweden
Spanish diplomats
Court of Christina, Queen of Sweden