declined all other suitors. As time passed, nothing came of her intended marriage, and both Anna and Brahe remained unmarried. A definite explanation of this has not been found in historical sources, but Gustaf Brahe remained at the side of Sigismund and Anna all his life and ultimately followed them to Poland when they left Sweden for good. Her brother's Swedish reign In November 1592, her brother Sigismund succeeded to the throne of Sweden at the death of their father. In September 1593, Anna returned to Sweden in the company of her brother King Sigismund and her sister-in-law Queen Anna. She was regarded with distrust by the Papal envoy Germanico Malaspina. During the scandalous riot between Catholics and Protestants during the burial service of her Polish musician Sowka in Riddarholmskyrkan in November 1593, her own priest Olaus Simonis participated on the Protestant side. Anna herself visited her uncle Charles, Duke of Södermanland, in Uppsala in February 1594, and attended the anti-Catholic sermon of Ericus Schepperus. Sigismund had plans to make Anna his regent in Sweden during his stay in Poland. This plan, however, was opposed by Duke Charles, who managed to have the Swedish Council to appoint himself. In 1594, Sigismund returned to Poland, while Anna remained in Sweden. Papal envoy Malaspina had convinced him to leave her behind because of her involvement in the religious riot in Riddarholmskyrkan and reminded him about the Archbishop's threat of excommunication. Anna was given an allowance with Stegeborg Castle as residence of her own court with the fiefs of Hammarkind, Björkekind, Östkind and Lösing härad. At Stegeborg, she cultivated her interests for herbal medicine. In 1595, Anna arranged for the love marriage between her maid of honour Sigrid Brahe and Johan Gyllenstierna. This became a great scandal as Brahe was engaged to another by her family. Duke Charles refused to mediate and Anna she finally managed to create a settlement between the families at the Söderköping Riksdag of 1595. The wedding also caused a temporary estrangement in the relationship between Anna and Gustaf Brahe, but they soon reconciled. The Sparre Affair was to be the final break between Anna and Duke Charles. Count Erik Larsson Sparre was a staunch supporter of Sigismund, and Anna kept a box for his wife Ebba Sparre, sister of her head lady in waiting Margareta Brahe (1559–1638), at Stegeborg, which Duke Charles suspected of containing suspicious documents. When