Chapter 279 European Royal Family Joint Declaration
Edward VII’s funeral and farewell ceremony were even larger than Queen Victoria’s funeral.
In fact, the British have also felt a crisis in recent years. At this time, it was different from the splendid Victorian era. The British Empire already had many competitors in the limelight.
In particular, the German Empire not only maintained a strong scale and combat effectiveness in terms of its army, but also desperately caught up with the British Empire in terms of its navy.
As the German Empire's strategy gradually expanded to international expansion, the German Empire and the British Empire gradually became opposites.
For now, the German Empire is the most powerful enemy of the British Empire, and it is also the enemy most likely to replace the British Empire and become the new world hegemon.
At this moment, the British people miss the brilliance of the Victorian era even more.
At its peak during the Victorian era, the British Empire was the most powerful country in the world, and other competitors did not pose much of a threat to the British Empire.
After the grand farewell ceremony, many British people were reluctant to leave for a long time. Outside the Royal Cemetery and some streets, they spontaneously organized to commemorate the two monarchs of the Victorian era.
The European nobles who came to attend the funeral of Edward VII held a grand royal party at the invitation of George V.
How grand is this royal gathering? There are ten monarchs, the lowest of whom is also the king.
At the same time, there are many queens, crown princes, princes and grand dukes as well as distinguished dukes.
Some Dukes with relatively ordinary status were not even qualified to appear at such a gathering, which showed the high standard and level of this gathering.
At the banquet, the members of the European royal family were basically chatting. Usually, these people can be said to be from different parts of the world, each living in one place.
For example, a monarch like Arthur usually stayed away from Europe and might not visit once for several years.
Even European monarchs like William II may not have time to gather with other royal families due to their busy domestic affairs.
Of course, another important point is that European countries are currently divided into two distinct factions.
As members of European countries, the actions of these royal members also greatly affect the views of their countries. Of course, the views of the country they live in also greatly affect their behavior.
To give a simple example, if it is a country whose domestic government and people are particularly close to the United Kingdom, the ruler of that country must consider the opinions of the domestic government and people even if it has a better relationship with the German royal family.
After all, even if the monarchy is still the mainstream in Europe and even the world, it cannot be denied that the power of monarchs in various countries has gradually weakened, and there are fewer and fewer monarchs with real power.
The protagonist of this banquet is naturally George V. Although the identity and status of a German emperor like Wilhelm II is no worse than that of George V, after all, he is currently in London, the home court of George V, so it is understandable that George V becomes the protagonist.
In fact, Arthur was looking forward to the change in Britain's attitude after George V ascended the throne. Don’t underestimate the authority of the current European royal family. Although the power of a single monarch does not seem that great, the entire European royal family can represent the five European powers including the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Kingdom of Italy. and numerous small and medium-sized European monarchies.
Most of the European monarchies participated in the future World War I, which indirectly led to the weakening of European monarchies after the war.
As one of the monarchs from a European royal family, Arthur felt the need to make some preparations in advance to protect the monarchy.
Even if it is for yourself, you must try to save as many European royal families as possible. After all, national interests aside, monarchies have a better environment for cooperation.
By retaining more monarchies, we can jointly withstand the liberal democratic ideals that have been wildly spread around the world after the end of World War II, and jointly defend the monarchy, a tradition that has been passed down for thousands of years.
Arthur's idea of protecting royal power was recognized and approved by many European royal families. After all, the starting point of this proposal is to safeguard the interests of all monarchies and royal families.
But the plan to implement the idea encountered considerable difficulties. Although the power of monarchs in various countries has weakened, it is still the heyday of monarchy.
Among the eight major powers in the world, except the United States and France, all other countries are monarchies.
Moreover, France is constantly changing between the republic and the monarch, and there are many royalists and forces and people close to the royal family in the country.
Under such circumstances, members of the royal families of various countries are naturally not enthusiastic about promoting the implementation of this treaty.
After all, everyone's rights seem to be very stable, and there seems to be no need to bother with this treaty.
After all, as members of the royal family of the country, they naturally cannot easily promise something unless necessary.
At least it's in vain to help the royal families of other countries. Their domestic political forces will most likely not be willing.
To put it bluntly, this kind of thing is to use the power of the country for the personal interests of the royal family, and it is even very likely to send out the army to fight a war.
In the whole of Europe, there are not many royal families who can do this, and even fewer can dispatch their own troops for the royal families of other countries.
As of now, the royal families of very few small countries have the idea to reach such an agreement. After all, the status of the royal family in small countries is the most unstable, and the country is very likely to cause the royal family to be deposed in a political struggle.
As for Bulgaria, where the royal family has a prominent family background, the king will generally not be deposed. At most, he will only be emptied of power.
Of course, if it is the background of the overall decline of the monarchy after World War II, no matter how deep the family background is, you will not be able to escape the fate of the throne being abolished.
Unfortunately, these small countries cannot play a key role in the implementation of the treaty. Those who can really play a key role in the implementation of this treaty are the royal families and monarchs of the five European powers, Britain, Germany, Russia, and Italy.
Because Tsar Nicholas II was not present and the relationship between Germany and Austria-Hungary was relatively close, whether the treaty could be implemented mainly depended on the opinions of the future King of Britain, George V, and Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Although George V has not yet ascended the throne to become king, even if he ascends the throne, he is destined not to have the same power as Queen Victoria and Edward VII.
But it cannot be denied that as the future King of the United Kingdom, George V has a considerable say in the European royal family. Many countries that are close to or directly dependent on the United Kingdom, their royal families are also waiting for George V's opinion.
Arthur is still looking forward to the implementation of the treaty. This may be the only opportunity to reach a treaty to protect the royal power.
Going forward, although there were powerful British monarchs like Queen Victoria and Edward VII, there were no opportunities to bring together the royal families of most European countries.
Although Queen Victoria's funeral was a good opportunity, Edward VII would naturally not let Arthur advocate for the treaty, gain increased prestige, and gain the favor of many European royal families.
After all, all issues aside, the royal family members of all countries are basically the same in terms of consolidating royal power.
As long as someone can reach a treaty to protect the royal power against all odds, this person will definitely gain a lot of favor and reputation from other royal families, and it is not surprising that he will even have a certain say in the European royal family.
George V was very interested in the treaty proposed by his cousin Arthur to protect the royal power, but George V also understood that he had to agree with the opinions from Britain, at least before he officially ascended the throne.
George V does not want to cause too much chaos in the UK. Maintaining the stability of the UK is currently the most important thing, which is also related to the stability of the British royal family and his own status.
After thinking for a long time, George V finally chose to remain silent. In other words, George V was going to see what other people had to say.
If advancing the treaty was what everyone wanted, then George V would not mind pushing the tide and promoting the implementation of the treaty.
But if other members of the royal family have little interest in advancing this treaty, then there is no need for him to risk offending other political forces in the country to help Arthur advance this treaty, and he will get nothing.
After all, defending the royal family and royal power, doesn't this mean that George V desires more royal power and status?
In other words, this is equivalent to George V announcing with great fanfare that he would obtain more royal power and consolidate the status of the royal family and himself before he ascended the throne.
George V's silence also caused some royal families close to the UK to choose silence.
Although some small and medium-sized countries also have expectations for the implementation of the treaty, there is no need to offend Britain and George V for a treaty that others can violate at will!
They are not stupid. Even if the treaty is successfully advanced in the future, the ones who will really protect the royal families of other small countries will most likely be powerful powers like Britain and Germany.
Even if other small and medium-sized countries have ideas, they can't use the strength of the whole country to help other countries at the risk of overthrowing their thrones.
If it offends Britain, it will lead to the formal advancement of this treaty. So what if the UK doesn't help them when they really need help?
After all kinds of thinking, the royal families of these countries saw it very clearly. Although the treaty to protect the royal power is indeed beneficial to them, it is more important at present to maintain their own position, so as to receive strong support from great powers such as Britain and Germany.
With the support they deserve, their throne and power can be consolidated to a certain extent, which is much better than a verbal treaty.
After George V fell silent, Arthur looked at William II again and asked William II for his opinion.
In fact, William II was not very interested in such a treaty. After all, in William II's view, the position of the German royal family in Germany was relatively stable.
Needless to say, for some countries that surrendered to Germany, William II would also protect their royal families. As for those forces close to Britain, how could Germany protect their royal family?
But after all, the initiator of this treaty was Arthur, and William II could not refuse it directly, so he gave a more compromise proposal, which was to change the protection of the royal power and the royal family to the protection of the personal safety of European royal family members and European monarchs. .
European royal families should jointly condemn and oppose regicide, assassination of royal family members and other bad behaviors against European royal families.
Among them, the act of regicide was highlighted. If regicides break out in other European countries, then the European royal families should unite to protect other royal members of this country, impose sanctions on the regicides and their forces, and help this country restore its due monarchy and order.
At the same time, the European royal family should also provide due protection to royal members of other countries.
What Arthur didn't expect was that the original treaty to protect the royal power had somehow turned into a treaty to protect members of the royal family.
But the best result for now is this. Arthur can only nod and agree with William II's point of view.
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(End of chapter)