On April 3, 1849, a deputation from the Frankfurt National Assembly under the leadership of president Eduard Simson went to the Royal Palace to present the crown of a German Kaiser to Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia. The act was a last-ditch effort to save a major goal of the failing revolution: German unification. Having presented himself as a champion of German unity in the face of revolutionary events in Berlin in March 1848, the king had by this time regained control of his state and refused to accept the Imperial crown from the people's representatives. Wood engraving, 1849.