established Union of South Africa cried foul, as Delagoa Bay in Mozambique represented a strategic naval base area that could not be ceded to Germany. Bertie was reassured, but had his own critics who were most disparaging of his performance, and failure to keep abreast of modern developments of politics and strategy. Bertie was an old school diplomat, admired protocol and court precedents, was reluctant to go beyond his own prescribed powers. In a series of letters at the end of 1911/12, he found to his cost that francophiles were dead set against Paul Wolff Metternich's 'satanic invitation.' In fact, as time went on, he became more sceptical of the Haldane Mission as foolish because it threatened the "excellent position" in Paris. By February 1912 it had become clear to him that Germany was still the problem; not France. In competing with the British Empire, Germany sought to acquire lands in southern Africa from Portugal, France, Belgium and Britain, in addition to promising the Portuguese government financial support. Bertie blamed Admiral Tirpitz's sabre-rattling belligerence in the Persian Gulf, where it coincidentally met with the Berlin-Baghdad Railway. He sold the manor of North Weston (now in Great Haseley) and his lands there in 1913, and the estate was divided up. Bertie was still ambassador in Paris when the First World War broke out in August 1914. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Bertie of Thame, in the County of Oxford, in 1915. During the war he was frequently bypassed by special missions directly from the British government, particularly the military mission of Lord Esher, with whom he also came into personal conflict. After the February Revolution in Russia he advised the British government against the deposed Romanovs being allowed to go into exile in France as the ex-Empress Alexandra was perceived as pro-German. When Bertie fell ill in April 1918, he was replaced by the Secretary of State for War, Lord Derby, and returned to England. On his retirement, Bertie was made Viscount Bertie of Thame, in the County of Oxford. In June 1919, he sold off the manors of Beckley and Horton-cum-Studley, Oxfordshire, which he had inherited from his father. He never fully recovered from his illness, dying in London on 26 September 1919. Family Bertie married Lady Feodorowna Cecilia Wellesley (1838–1920), daughter of the 1st Earl Cowley and grandniece of the 1st Duke of Wellington, in 1874.