Chapter 5 The Crown Prince’s Gift
is not actually the British Empire. Even for the royal families of most European monarchies, Queen Victoria is the benchmark for monarchies.
Queen Victoria is not called the Grandmother of Europe for nothing. The royal families of many countries have close blood relationships with Queen Victoria. Even Wilhelm II, Emperor of the German Empire, one of the great powers, is also Queen Victoria's grandson.
Based on the original history, when Queen Victoria died on the Isle of Wight, she was surrounded by many of her descendants, including Crown Prince Edward and Kaiser Wilhelm II.
As Kaiser Wilhelm II, he was able to accompany Queen Victoria at all times, which shows how high Queen Victoria's status is to the major European royal families.
Not surprisingly, Queen Victoria's idea was opposed by the vast majority of people. No one would want Queen Victoria, who is already over 80 years old, to travel all the way just to get to the Isle of Wight, which is more than 10,000 kilometers away.
Even though many people understand Queen Victoria's longing for her deceased relatives, neither the British Empire nor the European royal family can accept the blow caused by the loss of Queen Victoria.
However, Queen Victoria was determined and no one could stop her, not even Prime Minister Robert and Crown Prince Edward.
The only good thing is that Queen Victoria did not decide to leave immediately, but waited until Arthur took care of everything before heading to Australia with Arthur.
Although Duke Arthur was assassinated at a young age, he left Arthur a large amount of wealth and property.
Putting aside the two duchies and an earldom that have been replaced by Australia, the several castles and two military factories, a steel factory and a shipyard that were originally under the control of Duke Arthur alone are worth at least hundreds of millions of pounds. .
Duke Arthur also left a large number of shares in factories or companies in industry and other industries, with a valuation of at least tens of millions of pounds.
Now that Arthur is going to Australia, most of these properties need to be relocated or all liquidated in order to be of maximum use.
For Arthur, all the shares he holds need to be liquidated. Although these shares may appreciate in value in the future, Arthur, who is about to go to Australia, obviously does not have much time to wait for these stocks to appreciate.
Might as well turn it all into pounds and contribute to Australia's development.
As for those shipyards, steel plants and military factories, it would be better to relocate them all to Australia if possible.
These factories are very scarce for Australia. They can not only fill Australia's long-standing industrial gap, but also accelerate Australia's industrial and technological development.
As for the castles left by Duke Arthur, if nothing else happens, Arthur will not return to the British Empire, so there is no need to keep them.
All of these castles are ancient castles with a history of hundreds of years. They cover a very large area and have very complete supporting infrastructure. They also have gardens, multiple restaurants, and a large number of precious works of art.
The value of these castles alone may exceed 60 million pounds, which is a quarter of the total annual fiscal revenue of the British Empire.
The good news is that Butler Hunter has been responsible for taking care of Duke Arthur's property before, so he is very familiar with all Duke Arthur's properties. After learning that Arthur planned to sell off all his properties and go to Australia, Butler Hunter did not object and just silently helped Arthur sell the properties that he had managed alone.
Perhaps because the British Empire is now booming and its developed economy has created many wealthy people, the sale of Duke Arthur's property went smoothly. It only took a month for most of the stocks and castles to be sold. .
The castle, in particular, was very popular with the nobles. Not only were they all sold, but they also brought Arthur a total income of up to 70 million pounds.
Coupled with the income from the sale of shares, Arthur's current cash in hand has reached a terrifying 87 million pounds.
March 3, Buckingham Palace.
This was Arthur's last day in the British Empire, and it was also the day before Queen Victoria decided to travel.
The British government was extremely busy on this day. It not only had to deal with daily government affairs, but also once again confirmed Queen Victoria's preparations for tomorrow's trip.
As the Queen of the British Empire, Queen Victoria’s standards of etiquette when traveling cannot be low.
During this trip, Queen Victoria will not only bring a Royal Guard of up to 2,000 people, but also a fleet including two battleships and five cruisers to escort her.
Accompanying them were members of the royal family including Princess Beatrice, Arthur, Princess Louise, Margery and Patricia, Palace Butler Harvey, and Deputy Prime Minister Jon.
In order to take care of Queen Victoria's daily life, twelve additional servants, three maids, five cooks and two pastry chefs were brought along on this trip.
After making all the final preparations, Queen Victoria also began to say her final goodbyes to government officials and Prince Edward.
The farewell between Prince Edward and Queen Victoria was very stiff, perhaps because both of them had their own concerns.
But after all, his wish was achieved. Crown Prince Edward seemed very relaxed and happy at this time. He smiled and told Arthur beside Queen Victoria: "Arthur, after you go to your own territory, remember not to act recklessly. Your people It is the foundation of a territory. Only a popular ruler can rule a country for a long time. Learn from your grandmother and strive to be a qualified ruler." "Yes, uncle." Although he didn't understand why Crown Prince Edward seemed a little active
, But Arthur could only regard it as his uncle's instructions when he was about to leave.
"Edward, Arthur is about to leave. As an uncle, don't you have any expression at all?" Suddenly, Queen Victoria, who had been silent at the side, suddenly spoke, staring at Edward with a somewhat thoughtful look.
"Oh, damn, how could I forget such an important thing?" Crown Prince Edward immediately broke into a cold sweat, and then quickly said: "Arthur, I promised you a gift when you left the territory, and now is the time to honor it. Yes. I heard that you were selling off all your property some time ago, and there is nothing I can do to help you. Let me give you 20 million pounds in my personal name, and then ask the London Bank to give you an interest-free loan of 30 million pounds. This is a belated birthday gift to you. I couldn’t have a happy birthday with you due to special circumstances before, but I still want to wish you a happy seventeenth birthday.” First update, asking for support
.
(End of chapter)