The appointment came at a time when his Little Entente project had already been fulfilled, and extended, from the Romanian perspective, through the alliance with the Second Polish Republic ("see Polish-Romanian Alliance"). According to journalist Noti Constantinide, who visited him during his stay in Aix-les-Bains (March 1921), Ionescu, whom he called "the most intelligent person I ever met", was actively promoting the Romanian and Little Entente causes, seeking to sway public opinion in Allied countries. Through Constantinide, Ionescu was informed that Charles, former Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, had decided in favor of secretly returning to Budapest and taking back one of his thrones; the information, according to Constantinide, was passed to him by an Austrian officer in Hungary's service, who had decided to betray his superiors. The information proved accurate, but Ionescu reportedly dismissed similar news, received some time after, of Charles' planning a second such attempt — this was to be effected in October, and, although more successful than the March episode, it too ended in Charles' expulsion ("see Charles IV of Hungary's conflict with Miklós Horthy").