Due to her late parents' legacies, Anna was considered the wealthiest heiress in Germany at the time. In 1556, Erik, son of the Swedish king Gustav Vasa, sought her hand in marriage, followed two years later by William of Orange. A marriage with a rich heiress and relation to the important electoral houses of Germany for him seemed of great value. Money may have not been one of the main motives for the marriage, but was probably the furthest planned course of the marriage. Anna's maternal grandfather, Philip the Magnanimous of Hesse, was opposed to the marriage. First, he did not consider William of Orange, already having a male heir, as befitting for an elector's daughter, believing she could marry someone of even higher rank. Secondly, there would have been too much debt incurred in the event of William's death. Philip's negative attitude delayed the marriage for a full year. Ultimately, however, the decisive factor was probably that William was a valuable ally for Germany and his Dutch resources for the Protestant cause.