Chapter 278 An Unexpected Gain

Although the possibility of war breaking out in Europe at this time is very small, neither the cabinet government nor Arthur dares to bet on that possibility.

Judging the current situation and making preparations in advance is the first thing Australasia has to do.

However, from the perspective of national interests, Arthur does not want to start a war now.

After all, if World War I breaks out, countries will naturally impose certain restrictions on the outbound population. At that time, it may not be an easy task for Australasia to absorb more immigrants.

In other words, the number of immigrants in Australasia must be greatly reduced when the war is about to start and during the war.

There is no way to do this, after all, there are many civilians who do not want war. If it is during wartime, there must be many immigrants who choose to go abroad.

But if these immigrants are allowed to leave the country, it may lead to more population loss. This is very unfavorable for a country that is at war, so it must be extinguished at the source.

As the king of the most powerful country in the world today, the grand scale of Edward VII's funeral is absolutely unimaginable.

In fact, it is true. If Arthur remembers correctly, the funeral of Edward VII in history was attended by nine European emperors, five crown princes, more than 40 royal nobles, seven queens and many nobles. It was the largest royal gathering in history.

This was almost the peak of the noble gathering. After the First World War, the monarchy had been greatly weakened, the power and status of nobles in various countries were also weakened, and the monarchy and nobles gradually left the political stage of most countries.

Arthur must participate in such a grand noble gathering. Of course, as a member of the British royal family, Arthur had to participate in the funeral of Edward VII.

After all, Arthur was Edward VII's nephew and Queen Victoria's grandson in terms of blood relationship.

After the arrangements were made and the royal affairs were subsequently entrusted to the government, Arthur took Prime Minister Walter, Foreign Secretary Andrew and a group of diplomatic visiting teams and set off for London on the battleship Australasia.

Of course, there were more warships accompanying them. The other two battleships also followed, and there were more than ten frigates and a large supply fleet.

Although doing so would leave the coast of Australasia empty, Arthur believed that no country would land on the coast of Australasia at this time.

The only capable countries around now may be the island countries and the United States. But both countries are quite far away, and neither has the courage to provoke the major European powers.

This time, with three battleships, one is to show the current naval strength of Australasia to the outside world, and the other is to show its own shipbuilding capabilities to see if it can get some battleship orders from the major European powers and monarchies.

You know, a battleship can bring Arthur nearly 1.4 million Australian dollars in net profit, and the orders for two foreign battleships are enough for Arthur to build another battleship.

Such a cost-effective deal, even Arthur, who is not short of funds at all, thinks it is necessary to fight for it.

At present, the competition for shipbuilding among European countries is fierce. Many countries want to have dreadnoughts, but they do not have the ability to build them.

The countries in Europe that have the ability to build are basically busy building their own dreadnoughts.

This also leads to the hope that Australasia will get some orders for dreadnoughts from Europe, which is why Arthur brought the Foreign Minister this time.

The Foreign Ministry is quite good at talking, and maybe they can get more orders for dreadnoughts, which is good for both the royal family and the government.

You know, the only countries that really have dreadnoughts are the British Empire, the German Empire, the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Australasia.

Italy and the United States are also building or have plans to build them.

At present, only the British Empire, the German Empire and Australasia have the ability to export dreadnoughts.

However, the naval competition between the British Empire and the German Empire is very fierce. Both sides have no time to build dreadnoughts for themselves, let alone to build for other countries.

Although a dreadnought can also make them hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds in profit, these profits are somewhat insignificant in the face of national competition.

On Arthur's way to London, the British government had officially notified countries around the world, and the political arena must have stabilized initially.

Of course, although Edward VII died on May 6, the funeral was scheduled in mid-June in order to give major countries enough time to go to London to attend the funeral.

Especially for a country like Australasia that is far enough away from Britain, Arthur's identity is still very important, so the funeral can only be postponed for a few days.

Fortunately, he was on the fastest dreadnought at present, and it only took more than 20 days to travel from Australasia to London.

If it was the old battleship or warship before, it would probably be impossible to reach London without a month.

Of course, if he was on the battlecruiser currently under construction, he might be able to arrive a few days earlier.

It's a pity that the construction of the battlecruiser will take a long time, and the navy that is truly equipped may have to wait until the end of next year.

In early June, the Australasia fleet officially arrived at the port of London.

At this time, the atmosphere in London was already very solemn, and the laughter of the British street people was much less, which was enough to show that Edward VII was still quite recognized by the British.

Those who are farther away like Arthur are almost the last to arrive.

Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, etc., which are relatively close, basically arrive in May.

However, King Carlos I of Portugal did not look so friendly towards Arthur. After all, Australasia had just occupied Portuguese Timor from Portugal and made it its new colony.

Of course, national interests are not what makes Carlos truly hostile to Arthur. Mainly because Arthur controlled public opinion throughout Europe at the time, making Carlos a clown in Europe and even ridiculed by many European nobles.

The status and majesty of a country's monarch have been seriously shaken. No wonder Carlos hates Arthur so much.

Arthur couldn't help but find it a little funny. Carlos I didn't care about his hatred of Arthur. After all, Portugal was only a third-rate country in Europe, and its influence was not even comparable to that of Australasia.

What's more, without Arthur's influence on the situation in Portugal, perhaps Carlos I would have been assassinated together with his crown prince as in history. The current King of Portugal might have become Manuel II, and the Portuguese royal family might have It is also close to destruction.

Queen Victoria is known as the grandmother of the European royal family, and as Queen Victoria's eldest son, Edward, naturally became the eldest uncle of the European royal family.

Of course, this is not just talk. Edward VII's prestige in the European royal family is still quite high, and his funeral also attracted the participation of most European monarchies and royal families.

Although Carlos I was relatively hostile to Arthur, on British soil, Manuel could only pretend to be a grandson.

What's more, on Arthur's side, William II and Arthur were talking and laughing, which was enough to show the relationship between William II and Arthur.

After all, there were so many European royal nobles present, and William II chose to stay with Arthur, which shows that he and Arthur have the best relationship.

At this juncture, if Carlos I came to look for trouble, I am afraid that he is really out of his mind.

It is worth mentioning that Nicholas II did not attend the funeral. It's not that Nicholas II had any objections to Edward VII. Russia and Britain had already reached a compromise and formed the Three Kingdoms Entente with France. Naturally, it was impossible not to give Britain face at such a juncture.

It's just that Nicholas II's son, Crown Prince Alexei, suffered from hemophilia and had an attack some time ago, so Nicholas II had to stay with his son and could not attend the funeral. .

Hemophilia is a taboo that even European royal families talk about. Many European people even call it a royal disease. After all, many European royal family members suffer from this disease.

In fact, the birth of hemophilia should theoretically be attributed to the tradition of incest in European royal families.

The current source of hemophilia in the European royal family should be Queen Victoria.

A considerable number of Queen Victoria's children suffered from hemophilia, and along with marriages with other countries, they entered the royal families of other countries.

But the good news is that neither Arthur nor old Duke Arthur has hemophilia. This is also the reason why old Duke Arthur lived a long life in history.

The Russian Crown Prince Alexei's hemophilia seemed to have been cured by a pseudo-mystic.

However, Arthur didn't know the details. Anyway, Arthur couldn't do anything for the time being, so he might as well care about the immediate interests and things.

In mid-June, Edward VII's farewell ceremony officially began.

The scale, quality and number of participants of the farewell ceremony set a new world record.

Of course, there is no such thing as a world record in this era, but various news and various records all remember this event.

A total of ten kings rode along with the hearse, and hundreds of thousands of British people saw off King Edward VII.

Arthur is also among these ten people, and he is still in a relatively front position.

Although the strength of Australasia is not enough for him to enter the forefront of the ten emperors, Arthur is from the British royal family, and his relationship is naturally closer, so he has gained the power to be at the forefront.

On the surface, Arthur was very sad about the death of Edward VII. After all, the relationship with the British government and British people still needs to be maintained. Anyway, as a qualified monarch, the pretense is essential.

Judging from the reaction of the British people, Arthur's disguise was still very successful. Many British people also remembered Queen Victoria's instructions to Arthur when she died. A large number of British media praised Arthur as a great monarch who valued blood relationships, loved relatives, loved family, and cared for the charity of his people.

Various words of praise were used by these British media in reporting on Arthur, and were then printed and sold throughout the British Empire.

There is no way, praising Arthur at this time has become a kind of political correctness. After all, the British people are very satisfied with Arthur. If newspapers and media sing the opposite, then do they need market and sales?

It is precisely because more media and newspapers have exaggerated praise for Arthur that many unexplained British people love Arthur even more.

This actually increased Arthur's support and favor in the UK, allowing Arthur to show his face in front of the British people again.

Originally, Arthur was worried that with the end of the Victorian era, the British people might gradually forget him.

Unexpectedly, with this accident, the British people liked him even more. Many British people even spontaneously went to the tomb and assassination site of the old Duke Arthur to commemorate the beloved son of Queen Victoria and the benevolent Duke of the British Empire.

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