The young Alexios was imprisoned in 1195 when Alexios III overthrew Isaac II in a coup.
According to the contemporary account of Robert of Clari it was while Alexius was at Swabia's court that he met with Marquis Boniface of Montferrat, Philip's cousin, who had been chosen to lead the Fourth Crusade, but had temporarily left the Crusade during the siege of Zara to visit Philip.