 Cantacuzino's final moment in power was in late July 1854, during an interregnum caused by the Crimean War.He became the president of an Administrative Council created by Mikhail Dmitrievich Gorchakov just before the Russian withdrawal from Wallachia.The Ottomans then recognized him as head of a caretaker government, jointly with Constantin Năsturel-Herescu, although both resigned after Știrbei's second return that September.