While dining with six strangers in their hotel one night, a man “with a face the color of soot” (79) tells Candide to be ready to leave without fail. It is Cacambo, who tells him Cunégonde is in Constantinople. Cacambo is enslaved and must serve his master at dinner, but he has a plan to leave after supper. The six strangers are in Venice for Carnival. One by one, their servants address each man, saying “Sire, Your Majesty may depart when he pleases” (80) as each servant leaves to prepare for departure. The other guests are astonished as each of the six are addressed as “Your Majesty” (80), realizing they are in the presence of royalty.

Candide questions the men, and the first to speak is Achmed III, a deposed Grand Sultan. The next is Ivan, once an Emperor in Russia, but deposed while in his cradle and raised in prison. The third man is Charles Edward, deposed King of England, whose father renounced the throne and is deposed in Rome. The fourth is the King of Poland, who has been deposed due to a war, and the fifth is a twice-deposed King of Poland.