all. They also contain a study in self-revelation which, so far as it belongs to a regal character, is absolutely unique in its completeness—even in an age so rich in sensational memoirs as our own.

The subject-matter deals with a period of over twenty-five years in the life of a young European nation, in the course of which she gained her independence and strove successfully to retain it, whilst more than trebling her resources in peaceful work. In this eventful period greater changes have taken place in the balance of power in Europe than in many preceding centuries. A republic has replaced a monarchy in France, and also on the other side of the Atlantic, in Brazil, since the days when a young captain of a Prussian guard regiment, a scion of the House of Hohenzollern, set himself single-handed the Sisyphean task of establishing a constitutional representative monarchy on a soil where hitherto periodical conspiracies and revolts had run riot luxuriously. Just here, however, our democratic age has witnessed the realisation of the problem treated by Macchiavelli in "Il Principe"—the self-education of a prince.

To-day, the man who thirty-three years ago came down the Danube as a perfect stranger—practically alone, without tried councillors or adherents—is to all intents and purposes the omnipotent ruler of a country which owes its independence and present position entirely to his statesmanship. Nor can there be much doubt that but for him Roumania and the Lower Danube might be now little more than a name to the rest of Europe—as, indeed, they were in the past.

II

King Charles of Roumania is the second son of the late Prince Charles Anthony[2] of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen: the elder South German Roman Catholic branch of the House of Hohenzollern, of which the German Emperor is the chief. Until the year 1849 the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringens, whose dominions are situated between Württemberg and Baden, near the spot where the Danube rises in the Black Forest, possessed full sovereign rights as the head of one of the independent principalities of the German Confederation. These sovereign rights of his own and his descendants Prince Charles Anthony formally and voluntarily ceded to Prussia on December 7, 1849. Of him we are credibly informed:

"Prince Charles Anthony lives in the history of the German people as a man of liberal thought and high character, who of his own free will gave up his sovereign prerogative for the sake of the cause of German Unity. His memory is green in the hearts of his children as the ideal of a father, who—for all his strictness and discipline—was not feared, but ever loved and honoured, by his family. He was always the best friend and adviser of his grown-up sons." His letters to his son Charles, which are frequently quoted in the present memoir, fully bear out this testimony to the Prince's intimate, almost ideal, relationship with his children, as also to the magnanimity with which he is universally credited.

Of the King's mother—Princess Josephine of Baden—we learn: "Princess Josephine was deeply religious without being in the least bigoted. Her unselfishness earned for her the love and devotion of all those who knew her. As a wife and a mother her life was one of exceptional harmony and happiness. The great deference which King Charles has always shown to the other sex has its source in the veneration which he felt for his mother."

Prince Charles was born on April 20, 1839, at the ancestral castle of the Hohenzollerns at Sigmaringen on the Danube, then ruled over by his grandfather, the reigning Prince Charles of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. The castle was not in those days the treasury of art and history which it is at the present day. The grandfatherly régime was of a patriarchal, almost despotic kind: every detail of household affairs was regulated with a view to strict economy. Though, perhaps, unpleasant at times, all this proved to be invaluable training for the young Prince, whose ultimate destiny it was to rule over one of the most extravagant peoples in Europe. Punctuality was strictly enforced: at nine o'clock the old Prince wound up his watch as a sign that the day was over, and at ten darkness and silence reigned supreme over the household.

Prince Charles was a delicate child, and was considered so throughout his early manhood, though in reality his health and bodily powers left little to be desired. The first happy years of his childhood were passed at Sigmaringen and the summer residences of Inzigkofen and Krauchenwies. This peaceful life was broken by a visit in 1846 to his maternal grandmother, the Grand Duchess Stéphanie of Baden. On this occasion Prince Charles attracted the attention and interest of Mme. Hortense Cornu, the intimate friend and confidant of Prince Louis Napoleon—later Napoleon III.

It cannot be said that the young Prince progressed very rapidly in his studies; but though he learned slowly, his memory proved most retentive. His naturally independent and strong character, moreover, prevented him from adopting outside opinions too readily, and this trait he retained in after years. For though as King of Roumania he is ever willing to listen to the opinion of others, the decision invariably remains in his own hands.

An exciting period supervened for the little South German Principality with the year 1848, when the revolutionary wave forced the old Prince to abdicate in favour of his son Prince Charles Anthony. Owing to the action of a "Committee of Public Safety," the Hohenzollern family quitted Sigmaringen on September 27. This the children used to call the "first flight" in contradistinction to the "second," some seven months later. Though Prince Charles Anthony succeeded in gaining the upper hand over the revolutionary movement of '48, the trouble commenced again in 1849 owing to the insurrection in the Grand Duchy of Baden. As soon as order had been completely restored, Prince Charles Anthony carried out his long-cherished plan of transferring the sovereignty of the Hohenzollern Principality to the King of Prussia, and in a farewell speech he declared his sole reason to be "the desire to promote the unity, greatness, and power of the German people." The family settled first at Neisse in Prussian Silesia, then at Düsseldorf, as Prince Charles Anthony was appointed to the command of the Fourteenth Military Division, while Prince Charles Anthony, and later on also his brother Friedrich, were settled with their tutor in Dresden, where Prince Charles spent seven years.

Before joining his parents at Düsseldorf, Prince Charles successfully passed his ensign's examination, though he was entitled as a Prince of the House of Hohenzollern to claim his commission without submitting to this test. As a reward for his success he was permitted to make a tour through Switzerland and Upper Italy before being placed under his previously appointed military governor, Captain von Hagens. This officer was a man in every way fitted to instruct and prepare the young Prince for his career by developing his powers of initiative and independence of action. In accordance with his expressed wish, he was gazetted Second Lieutenant in the Prussian Artillery of the Guard, but was not required to join his corps until his studies were completed. A thorough knowledge of the practical part of his profession was acquired at the fortress of Jülich, followed, after a visit to the celebrated Krupp Works at Essen, by a course of instruction at Berlin.

The betrothal of his sister, Princess