 Most Smallholders were free-electors and held that Hungarians were now free to choose as king anyone they wished.Shorn of his moustache and armed with a forged Spanish passport, Charles left his Swiss villa and arrived undetected at Szombathely on 26 March.There he made his way to the palace of Count János Mikes, a prominent legitimist; the news spread quickly among local legitimists and by the early hours of 27 March Charles had a small privy council, including József Vass, Horthy's Minister of Education, and Colonel Antal Lehár.