Jácint Rónay, a Benedictine monk forced to emigrate to England due to his role in the 1848-1849 revolution and war of independence, was able to return to Hungary in 1866. Five years later, on the recommendation of Gyula Andrássy, he was asked to hold a Hungarian history course for the son of József Ferenc and Elizabeth, heir to the throne Rudolf. The task was not far from him, since even during the sixteen years he spent in England, he supported himself mainly by teaching and tutoring, among others, with the sons of Lajos Kossuth. At first, he hesitated whether to accept the position at court, because he was afraid that he would have to teach things that were contrary to his principles, but after he was assured that he could freely follow his convictions, he began to educate Rudolf. The royal parents and the immediate environment of the heir to the throne were satisfied with Rónay's work. Seeing the success, in 1873 he entrusted Erzsébet with managing the education of her youngest daughter Mária Valéria, who was five years old at the time. However, as a result of the court protest that accompanied the plan, he could only start this later, in February 1875. In the end, he performed the task until his student's adolescence, until the spring of 1883. After retiring, he began processing his diaries, reworking them into a memoir by omitting and rewriting certain texts. His writing was not intended for the general public - he only printed ten copies of his memoir as a gift to the persons and institutions important to him.

A selection from the text was first published in 1996, but it focused primarily on Rónay's activities in 1848-1849. In our present volume, however, we have selected from his notes on his teaching at court, which are now available to a wider readership for the first time. The special feature of the volume is that, following Rónay's original editing principles, he exchanged letters with some members of the royal family: for example, his reports on the education of Mária Valéria sent to Elizabeth; it also contains the letters of the archduchess to her parents, and Mária Valéria's lines to Rónay. The reminiscence is accompanied by a newly compiled note-taking apparatus and rich visual material. The volume is edited by Eszter Virág Vér and Dániel Borovi.