Queen of Sweden. She was reigned as the consort of King Carl IX from 1604 to 1611 and was thereafter Dowager Queen till her death. Originally a princess of Holstein-Gottorp (Germany), she belonged to the Oldenburg Dynasty, the daughter of Duke Adolph and Duchess Christina, a princess of the Brabant Dynasty of Hesse. She was a woman of strong will who ran the housekeeping of Carl's and her Sudermanian, Nerician and Vermillandian duchy with discipline. She also took drastic steps to keep her soon-to-be world famous son, Gustav (II) Adolph, from marrying below the level of royalty, allegedly telling him, about his romance with Lady Ebba Brahe (roughly translated): "One thing We want, another We must: Thus shalt Thou prize the Crown in Thy trust". King Sigmund III of Poland had originally proposed to Christina but never went through with the marriage, making an enemy for life out of the future Queen of Sweden, who married the Swedish widower, Duke Carl. She bore him another four children, two of each gender. After Sigmund's dethronement as King of Sweden, Carl acted as Regent, with Christina at his side, for five years before they ascended the throne. When Carl died she was Regent of the Realm for her teenaged older boy, sharing the position with her son-in-law, Duke John of Ostrogothland. He had married his cousin, Christina's daughter, whose unhappy marriage and early death plagued the queen during her own final years. Gustav Adolph the Great showed his widowed mother great respect. She was excited to know of the beginnings of his greatness, such as being elected Czar of Russia (briefly) in 1611, but her younger son, Carl Philip, was her favorite. She showed energy in helping him run his Vermillandian duchy and took his death at only 21 very hard, withdrew to the castle of Nyköpingshus and passed away there three years later at 52 years of age. Lord Axel Oxenstierna described her as "of courage and spirit noble, beside the fact that she was of body delightful and well developed". Ladies-in-waiting complained that she was so stingy that thread was measured before and after it was given to them for sewing.