The Rise of Australasia

Although the chance of war breaking out in Europe was slim at the time, neither the cabinet governmt nor Arthur dared to gamble on that one small possibility.

Judging the currt situation and preparing in advance was the first thing Australasia had to do.

However, from the standpoint of national interests, Arthur did not wish for World War I to commce just yet.

After all, if World War I were to break out, countries would naturally impose certain restrictions on emigrating populations. At that point, it would not be an easy task for Australasia to attract more immigrants.

In other words, during the immint outbreak and the actual onset of a war, the number of immigrants to Australasia would certainly decrease drastically.

This was an unavoidable circumstance, as many common people dreaded war. If there were a war, many would certainly choose to migrate abroad.

However, if these migratory masses were allowed to leave their home countries unchecked, it could lead to a significant population drain. This would be detrimtal to a country gaged in war, hce the need to curb the issue at its roots.

As the king of the world's most powerful country, Edward VII's funeral was bound to be grand beyond imagination.

Indeed, if Arthur remembered correctly from history, Edward VII's funeral was attded by nine European monarchs, five crown princes, more than forty royal nobles, sev ques, and numerous members of the nobility. It was the largest royal gathering in history.

This was quite possibly the pinnacle of aristocratic gatherings. After World War I, monarchism was significantly weaked, and the power and status of the nobility in various countries were successively reduced. Monarchism and the nobility slowly withdrew from the political stage in most countries.

Arthur definitely had to attd such a grand gathering of the aristocracy. Of course, as a member of the British royal family, Arthur had to attd Edward VII's funeral.

After all, based on blood relations, Arthur was Edward VII's nephew and Que Victoria's direct grandson.

Having arranged matters pertaining to the royal family, and giv further instructions to the governmt, Arthur, along with Prime Minister Walter and Foreign Secretary Andrew, as well as a diplomatic visiting group, set out for London aboard the Australasian battleship.

Of course, the warships accompanying him were not just these. Another two battleships also followed, along with more than t escort ships and a large supply fleet.

Although this arrangemt risked leaving the Australian coast vulnerable, Arthur believed that no country would dare to land on the Australian coast at this time.

The Island Nation and the United States were perhaps the only ones with the ability to do so, but both were quite far away and lacked the audacity to provoke the major powers of Europe.

This time, taking three battleships along served to demonstrate Australasia's naval power to the outside world, and to showcase its shipbuilding capabilities, in the hope of getting orders for battleships from the major powers of Europe and monarchist countries.

It should be noted that one battleship could bring Arthur nearly.4 million Australian dollars worth of pure profit, and orders for two foreign battleships would be ough for Arthur to build another one.

Ev Arthur, who did not currtly lack funds, thought of such a bargain as something worth striving for.

At prest, the competition in shipbuilding among European countries was intse. Many countries wanted to have dreadnoughts, but did not possess the capacity to build them.

The European countries capable of building dreadnoughts were in fact mostly busy building their own.

This resulted in Australasia having prospects to obtain orders for dreadnoughts from Europe, which was also why Arthur brought along the Foreign Secretary on this trip.

Foreign ministers were notably articulate and might be able to secure some orders for dreadnoughts, which would befit both the royal family and the governmt.

It should be known that currtly, the countries that truly possessed dreadnoughts were only the British Empire, the German Empire, the Tsardom of Russia, and the Kingdom of Australasia.

Italy and the United States are still constructing their battleships or have plans to do so.

At prest, the only countries really able to export dreadnoughts were the British Empire, the German Empire, and Australasia.

However, the naval competition betwe the British Empire and the German Empire was intse. Both were too busy constructing dreadnoughts for themselves to spare the effort to build them for other countries.

Although a single dreadnought could earn them several hundred thousand, or ev over a million pounds in profit, these profits seemed somewhat insignificant in the face of national competition.

On Arthur's journey to London, the British governmt had already formally notified countries worldwide, so presumably, political affairs had initially stabilized.

Of course, while Edward VII died on May 6th, the funeral was scheduled in mid-June, so as to give ough time for all the major countries to travel to London for the funeral.

Especially for distant countries like Australasia, Arthur's status meant that he had to attd, so the funeral had to be postponed for a few days.

Fortunately, they were traveling on the fastest dreadnought available, so it only took a little over twty days to get from Australasia to London.

If it had be the earlier old battleships or warships, reaching London within a month would have be impossible.

Of course, if they were aboard the under-construction battlecruisers, they might have arrived a few days earlier.

Unfortunately, the construction of the battlecruisers was going to take a long time, and it would not be until the d of the following year before they were really put into naval service.

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

At this point, the atmosphere in London had turned very solemn. Laughter on the streets of Britain had considerably diminished, indicating Edward VII's popularity among the British.

Arthur, being quite far away, was among the last to arrive.

Closer countries such as Portugal, Norway, Dmark, Spain, and Belgium, had basically arrived by May.

However, the look in the eyes of King Carlos I of Portugal towards Arthur was not so fridly. After all, not long ago, Australasia had seized Portuguese Timor from Portugal and turned it into its newest colony.

Of course, national interests were not the real reason for Carlos' hostility towards Arthur. The main reason was that Arthur had controlled the public opinion in all of Europe at the time, turning Carlos into a laughing stock among European nobility.

The stern of a monarch was seriously shak, no wonder Carlos showed such animosity towards Arthur.

Arthur found it somewhat amusing. As far as Arthur was concerned, he didn't mind King Carlos I's hostility towards him. After all, Portugal was ultimately a third-tier European country. Its influce couldn't ev match that of Australasia at this point.

Moreover, if it wer't for Arthur's influce over the situation in Portugal, perhaps Carlos I would have be assassinated along with his heir, just like in history. By now, Portugal's king might have be Manuel II, and the Portuguese royal family might be close to extinction.

Que Victoria was known as the grandmother of the European royal families, and as her eldest son, Edward naturally became the great uncle of the European royals.

Of course, this was not just lip service. Edward VII held a high prestige among the European royals, and his funeral was attded by the vast majority of the European monarchies and royal families.

While King Carlos I held some animosity towards Arthur, on British soil, Manuel could only play by their rules.

What's more, at Arthur's side, William II was sharing laughs with him, which showed the close relationship betwe William II and Arthur.

With so many European royals prest, William II's choice to stand by Arthur's side showed that his relationship with Arthur was the best among them.

If Carlos I were to pick a fight at such a time, it would surely be a sign of madness.

It's worth mtioning that Nicholas II did not attd the funeral. It's not that Nicholas II had any objections to Edward VII; Russia and Britain had already reached a compromise and, together with France, formed the triple alliance. Naturally, they couldn't afford to slight Britain at such a juncture.

The reason Nicholas didn't attd was that his son and heir, Prince Aleksei, suffered from hemophilia, which had tak a severe turn rectly. This left Nicholas II no choice but to stay at his son's side.

Hemophilia, to the European royal families, was something akin to a damning taboo. Many European people ev called it the "royal disease" as many members of European royal families suffered from it.

Theoretically, the emergce of hemophilia should be attributed to the tradition of close kinship within the European royal families.

The currt hemophilia found in the European royal families originated from Que Victoria.

A significant portion of Que Victoria's offspring suffered from hemophilia and, through marriage alliances, it spread into other national royal families.

However, the good news was that neither Arthur nor Duke Old Arthur were hemophiliacs; hce why Duke Old Arthur lived such a long life historically.

It seems that the hemophilia of Alexei, the Russian heir, was somehow cured by a pseudomysticist.

Arthur didn't know the details. After all, there was nothing he could do for the momt, so he focused on his immediate interests and matters at hand.

By mid-June, the farewell ceremony for Edward VII officially began.

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

Of course, there was no such thing as world records at this time, but each piece of news and all sorts of records were graved with this evt.

A total of t kings rode horses, following the hearse, accompanied by hundreds of thousands of British citizs bidding farewell to Edward VII.

Arthur was among these t people, and ev in a rather forward position.

Although the power of Australasia was not sufficit to allow him to be among the top t emperors, Arthur was of British royal family's origin and therefore had a closer relationship. This allowed him to have the right to be in the front row.

On the surface, Arthur appeared to be very sadded by the death of Edward VII. After all, he needed to maintain his relationship with the British governmt and the British public. As a qualified monarch, necessary pretses are esstial.

Judging from the reaction of the British public, Arthur's pretse was quite successful. Many British people remembered Que Victoria's instructions to Arthur upon her death, and numerous British media praised Arthur as a great monarch who values blood ties, loves his family and cherishes his subjects.

All sorts of praise from these British media were used in the news about Arthur, which was th printed and dispersed throughout the British Empire.

There was no way a it, praising Arthur had become a political correctness. Since the British public appreciated Arthur, if the newspapers and media sang another tune, could they still be viable in terms of market and sales?

The exaggerated complimts from more media and newspapers towards Arthur made the unaware British public ev fonder of him.

This inadverttly increased Arthur's popularity and favorability in Britain and allowed Arthur to once again make an appearance before the British public.

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

Unexpectedly, with this accidt, the British public liked him ev more. Many British citizs ev spontaneously visited the grave of Duke Old Arthur and his assassination site to remember this loving son of Que Victoria and the bevolt duke of the British Empire.

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