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 Stéphanie, to King Pedro V. of Portugal, in the autumn of 1857, was followed by her marriage by proxy at Berlin on April 29, 1858, whilst another important family event occurred in November of the same year. William, Prince of Prussia (afterwards King William I., who had assumed the regency during the illness of his brother the King, Frederick William IV.), appointed Prince Charles Anthony, of Hohenzollern, to the Presidency of the Prussian Ministry. His son Charles developed the greatest interest in politics, and at that time unconsciously acquired a fund of diplomatic knowledge and experience which was to stand him in good stead in his future career.