Author’s NoteThe descriptions of the Sultan’s harem are accurate.
Sebastopol fell in September 1855 and the terms of peace were concluded in January 1856.
King Otho of Greece was finally deposed in 1862.
Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe was one of the greatest Ambassadors Great Britain ever had and he won himself a unique place in diplomatic history.
No other foreigner has ever dominated, as he did, the Turkish Empire. The Poet Laureate, Lord Tennyson, wrote on his death in 1884,
“Thou third great Canning, stand among our best
And noblest, now thy long day’s work has ceased,
Here silent is our Minster of the West
Who wert the voice of England in the East.”