After reverting again to the Crown in 1661, it was granted in 1664 by King Frederick III of Denmark to his court favourite, the German merchant and politician Christoffer Gabel, who exchanged it three years later for the chalk mountain of Segeberg with Birgitte Nielsdatter, of the Trolle family and married into the Brahe family, whence the name of the castle and also of her barony, Brahetrolleborg.