At the congresses of Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), Troppau, Laibach and Verona, the voice of Hardenberg was but an echo of that of Metternich. The cause lay partly in the difficult circumstances of the loosely-knit Prussian monarchy but partly in Hardenberg's character had never been well balanced but had deteriorated with age. He continued amiable, charming and enlightened as ever, but the excesses that had been pardonable in a young diplomat were a scandal in an elderly chancellor and could not but weaken his influence with so pious a "Landesvater" as Frederick William III.