By Royal Command concentrates on one decisive period in the American showman's rise to international fame: his European tour with Charles S. Stratton, the extraordinarily successful performer promoted as "General Tom Thumb." Beginning with their arrival in Liverpool in February 1844, Ward follows the roughly three-year journey through Britain and continental Europe, including encounters with royalty and the publicity campaign that transformed both Barnum and Stratton into international celebrities. Drawing heavily upon primary sources and contemporary newspapers, Ward examines not only Barnum's showmanship and gift for publicity but also the exploitation, exaggeration, and attitudes toward bodily difference and the "exotic" underlying Victorian popular entertainment. The result is a more nuanced portrait of the man behind "The Greatest Showman" mythology and a revealing history of celebrity culture before the modern mass media.