sentences:  Rainilaiarivony and successive queens Ranavalona II and Ranavalona III sought to maintain the sovereignty of Madagascar.The Merina monarchy revoked the terms of the Lambert Charter, explaining that the agreement was void because Malagasy territory belonged to the crown and the prince had not had the right to give it away while Ranavalona reigned.The heirs of Laborde, upon being refused right to the land they had been promised and the various properties owned by their father, pressed the claim with the government of France, providing a pretext for invasion on the basis of enforcing the legal rights of a French citizen.