Newcastle remained extremely attentive to the Austrian Alliance. He spent several years trying to secure the election of Maria Theresa's son, the future Emperor Joseph II, as King of the Romans, a title of the Holy Roman Empire that carried enormous prestige but little real power, only to see the scheme fail because of Austrian indifference. There were a number of warning signs that all was not well with the alliance, but Newcastle ignored most of them since he was convinced that neither Austria or Britain had any other serious potential allies to turn to. Referring to the election, Newcastle believed that if his scheme failed, "France and Prussia will dictate to all the world". He managed to broker a compromise at a Congress of Hanover to secure the election of Joseph. His triumph at the Congress was soon undermined by his failure to secure Austrian backing.