Charles-Marie David de Mayréna, the French monarch of the Kindgom of Sedang, a micronation that he had founded in 1888, subsequently offers to cede his kingdom to the French Third Republic in exchange for monopoly trade rights and hints that the Prussians are interested if the French were not.

When the French government fails to respond positively, Mayréna approaches the British in Hong Kong.

When he is rebuffed there he travels to Belgium, where in 1889 a financier named Somsy offers to provide him with arms and money in exchange for the kingdom's mineral rights.

Mayréna's return to Sedang is thwarted by the French Navy, who blockade Vietnamese ports, and by the seizure of his arms as contraband at Singapore.

During his travels to Southeast Asia and Europe, Mayréna awards dozens of titles of nobility, orders of knighthood and assorted medals and paraphernalia to his supporters.

He also creates a series of postage stamps that are the main tangible legacy of his kingdom.