Prince William of Wied had meanwhile served his year at Coblentz in the regiment of Queen Augusta, and studied at the University of Bonn for a year and a half. On the 30th of March 1869 the coming of age of the young Prince was celebrated at Neuwied with great festivities. In August of the same year he was betrothed to Princess Marie of the Netherlands, daughter of His Royal Highness Prince Frederick of the Netherlands and Princess Louise of Prussia, a sister of the German Emperor. Still Princess Elizabeth would hear of no proposal of marriage. Her highest ambition was her wish to be a schoolmistress; she thought of founding a school, and giving up her time and strength to teaching. Her mother had let her have her way, and had already secretly planned and arranged everything. The Princess of Wied insisted on one point, however, which was, that Princess Elizabeth should follow a strict course of study and pass her examination as a teacher before her plan could be practically carried out. Princess Elizabeth’s restless spirit had calmed down in this prospect. Her mother remarked to Fräulein Lavater: “You will see that she will marry now; it would have been too soon before.” As the Princess of Wied was spending a few weeks at Bonn with her daughter in the spring of this year, she received an invitation from the Prince of Hohenzollern to visit him at Düsseldorf. She guessed at the deep meaning of this amiable invitation, but Princess Elizabeth was quite unconscious of it, and was only looking forward to seeing her beloved Princess of Hohenzollern, and Princess Marie, with whom she had corresponded intimately since she had been so much with them at Berlin. The princely parents now wished to become better acquainted with the young Princess of Wied, for their son, the Prince of Roumania, was thinking of uniting himself to her in marriage. Prince Charles I. of Roumania, the second son of Prince Anthony of Hohenzollern and the Princess of Baden, was born on the 20th of April 1839, and educated in Dresden at the Blochmann Institute. He wished to follow a military career, and entered the Prussian army, with which he went through the Danish campaign of 1864. In the year 1866 the young lieutenant of Dragoon Guards, who was then only seven and twenty, was called to the throne of Roumania by the unanimous voice of the nation. The King of Prussia, as head of the family, not objecting, and sure of the concurrence of Napoleon III., whose influence was then predominant in the lands of the Danube, Prince Charles became the reigning Prince of Roumania. The country entrusted to him had already visibly improved as well in spiritual as in temporal matters during his short reign. But the low state of social conditions required reform. A Princess was wanted to help in this great work whose life and example would do much to ensure success.