Chapter 178 Naming the Eldest Child

King Louis I and his wife stayed in Spain for more than a week, during which the royal families of the two countries got along quite harmoniously.

After reaching a consensus with King Louis I on cooperative colonization, most of the time was spent on relaxing banquets and outings.

Carlo and King Louis I spent most of their time discussing political affairs, while Queen Sophie and Queen Maria talked about having children.

Although the private doctors of the Spanish royal family are famous medical masters throughout Spain and even Europe, after all, the medical technology of this era is not so advanced, and having children is still very dangerous.

In addition, Queen Sophie is a little panicked about the possible dangers of having children because it is her first pregnancy. The Spanish royal family does not have experienced elders to teach and help, and Queen Maria, who has some experience, can indeed properly enlighten Queen Sophie and help Queen Sophie better adapt to life after pregnancy.

According to the time, Queen Sophie's delivery should be in the middle of this year, around May or June.

Now it is the end of March, which also means that Carlo will welcome his first child in the next few months.

For Carlo, the name of his first child also needs careful selection and consideration.

Of course, there is nothing to consider. As the king of Spain, Carlo's first child's name must be Spanish-style.

This is also to express the royal family's close attitude to the Spaniards. After all, if the members of the royal family all have Italian-style names, it will make the Spaniards more dissatisfied with the foreign royal family.

Carlo has already thought about the name of his first child. Of course, Carlo does not have the habit of letting several generations of European nobles have the same name.

If his son is also called Carlo, it will always feel weird to call him in daily life.

If the first child is a prince, his name will be Juan Fernando, which is a standard Spanish-style name.

If it is a princess, the name will be Sofia, which symbolizes intelligence and wisdom.

Not only Carlo is very concerned about his first child, but even Vittorio Emanuele II in Italy and Franz Joseph I in Vienna often send telegrams to inquire, and the royal families and government officials of various countries also have symbolic concerns.

Since Prime Minister Primo's reforms have been effective, in the eyes of European countries, Spain has returned to the ranks of European powers.

Although there is still a big gap compared with the five countries of Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Austria, it is almost the same as the powers like Italy, and even slightly surpasses them in some aspects.

Especially after Spain rebuilt the ironclad ships, there is a tendency to widen the gap with Italy. If Italy is a powerful country at this time, then what about Spain, which is about to widen the gap? Isn't this another powerful country?

Whether it is a powerful country or not is no longer important. With its current strength, it is not surprising that Spain has received symbolic attention from the top governments of other countries.

What's more, the first prince or princess of the Spanish royal family who is about to be born is still so noble.

In addition to being Carlo's eldest son or daughter, he is also the grandson and granddaughter of King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy and the first granddaughter of Emperor Franz Joseph I of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Before the other children of Franz Joseph I grew up, this little guy who was about to be born was indeed the only grandson of Franz Joseph I.

Spain, Italy and Austria-Hungary, any of these three countries is a European power at the level of a great power. The Austro-Hungarian Empire is still a real power ranked among the five traditional powers in Europe, and it is impossible for other countries not to pay attention to it.

In addition, the royal families in Europe are always connected. Although the apparent relatives are only Spain, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, if you count the relatives such as Carlo's brother-in-law, King Louis I of Portugal, there are a lot of European countries that have blood relations with the little guy.

Apart from anything else, the love of Vittorio Emanuele II and Joseph Franz I for him is enough to ensure that this little guy can eat well in any country.

Speaking of Carlo's father, Vittorio Emanuele II, there is a bad news that must be said, that is, his body is not as good as before.

Carlo has been in this world for seven years, and the passage of these seven years has changed too much.

Vittorio Emanuele II, who was born in 1820, is already 55 years old, which is definitely an elderly person in Europe today.

According to the current life expectancy in Europe, 55 years old is already quite long-lived. It's just that the living standards of European royal families are much higher than those of ordinary people, so the life expectancy of European royal family members is also much higher.

But in any case, 55 years old has passed the peak of life, and Vittorio Emanuele II's health has gradually deteriorated, and now it has even reached the point where it affects the handling of government affairs.

Italy is indeed a constitutional monarchy, but as the king who unified the whole of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II has a high reputation among the Italian people and has a very high voice in the government.

A considerable part of government affairs needs to be handled by Vittorio Emanuele II personally before the final decision can be made, which may also be one of the reasons why Emanuele II's health is constantly deteriorating.

Although Italy's land area is not large compared to other powers, it has a population of 28.66 million, more than 10 million more than Spain.

Such a large population also means that there are many government affairs to be handled, and a considerable part of the burden of government affairs is on Vittorio Emanuele II.

For this king who has experienced the grief of losing his son many times, his health is indeed getting worse and worse in a long period of busyness, but he has to face more and more government affairs, falling into a long-lasting vicious circle.

Although Vittorio Emanuele II has handed over some political affairs to his eldest son, the Italian Crown Prince Umberto, since the beginning of this year, this can only reduce his fatigue to a certain extent, and cannot effectively improve his physical condition.

Vittorio Emanuele II is very clear about what he will face in the future.

But because of this, he is still very concerned about the future development of his sons. The eldest son, Crown Prince Umberto, will inherit the Kingdom of Italy in the future, and Vittorio Emanuele II is also quite confident in the ability of the crown prince.

As a prince who received an elite traditional aristocratic education, Crown Prince Umberto has a good performance in the military. He graduated from Carlo's alma mater, the Royal Military Academy of Turin, and performed quite well in the Austro-Prussian War.

Italy's role in the Austro-Prussian War was a little embarrassing, because Italy had no effect on the outcome of the war from beginning to end.

If it were not for the Austrian army's large-scale retreat to prevent the Prussian army, it would not be so easy for Italy to recover Venice and take South Tyrol.

Although the performance of the Italian army was relatively poor, as an ordinary commander, Crown Prince Umberto performed well in the war.

Even if the army experienced failure, the overall performance of the crown prince was relatively calm, and he could even make some responsive decisions.

Although the overall ability is not so good, if the goal is only to succeed to the throne and pass it on, Crown Prince Umberto is definitely qualified.

The second son Amadeo is not very interested in political affairs, but is more willing to hold song and dance parties and invite local noble ladies to participate.

Vittorio Emanuele II does not care much about these romantic affairs of his son. The throne of Italy is inherited by Crown Prince Umberto, and Carlo is living well in Spain. These two people are enough to ensure that his brother Amadeo enjoys his leisurely aristocratic life.

Carlo is also concerned about the physical condition of his father, Vittorio Emanuele II.

Although he has only been in this world for a few years, Carlo does feel his father's love, which is rare in the royal family.

Although there are certain differences between the royal families of the East and the West, the king is the ruler of a country after all, not to mention the powerful king like Vittorio Emanuele II.

From his unhesitating agreement to the interest-free loan to Carlo, it can be seen that his feelings for Carlo are indeed sincere.

In the telegram exchange between the two sides, Carlo informed Queen Sophie of the approximate time of delivery, and promised to return to Italy with his family within a year to visit his father.

After dealing with some messy things, Carlo finally ushered in a long period of leisure.

After all, Carlo's power is not that great at this time, and most of the government affairs of the Spanish government are still handled by Prime Minister Primo.

For Carlo, this may not be a bad thing. At least Carlo has certain rights in his hands, which can ensure that his rights will not be completely empty.

On this basis, he can get a long free time to enjoy his life in this world.

After all, the king is also a human being, and he also needs rest and entertainment time. If you spend most of your time dealing with government affairs, such a king's life is a torture.

Not everyone can stand getting up early to deal with government affairs, dealing with noon after dinner, and meeting government officials and foreign guests during afternoon tea.

The greater the power, the greater the responsibility, this sentence is not just talk. Since Primo became the Prime Minister of Spain, his aging degree has been several points faster than before.

The main reason is that the burden of Spanish reform is all on Prime Minister Primo alone. Reform is related to the fate of Prime Minister Primo and Carlo, as well as the future development of Spain, and it is absolutely not sloppy.

This also led to Prime Minister Primo sleeping no more than five hours a day at the most extreme time, and he had to travel back and forth across Spain to inspect the implementation of the reform policies issued by the government.

It was only after the official performance evaluation system was issued that Prime Minister Primo's burden was slightly relieved.

As time came to mid-April 1875, Carlo was almost by Queen Sophie's side every day, accompanied by a large number of servants and doctors.

Queen Sophie found out she was pregnant at the end of October, but she had been pregnant for several months at that time. After all, the current technology is not advanced, and it is impossible to detect whether she is pregnant in a short time.

According to the ten-month pregnancy time, Queen Sophie's delivery time should be between April and June. Although there is no trend of giving birth at present, Carlo is a little excited and nervous at this time because he is a father for the first time.

Carlo is of course excited that he is about to have his first child. But the birth surgery in this era is too dangerous, and Carlo does not want to see his wife Queen Sophie or his children in danger.

There is nothing he can do about it. Before the medical technology is updated, giving birth is indeed a very dangerous thing.

In this era, there is only one way to give birth, which is natural delivery. Caesarean section can be performed, but the healing of the wound is a big problem, and it will be infected if you are not careful.

As long as you face the situation of infection, no matter what your identity is, there is basically only one result, which is death.

The birth of various antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs will have to wait for decades. Even if Carlo has vigorously developed Spanish biology and medicine, it will not be improved in a short time.

Perhaps when Carlo's next generation, that is, the future princes and princesses, give birth to their offspring, they will usher in a more advanced and safe medical environment.

The royal family is about to welcome the first prince or princess, which is a big news in Spain today.

Prime Minister Primo's reforms are quite successful, and the best proof is the continuous growth of per capita income in Spain. People can eat enough and live a good life, so they will naturally be grateful to the king and government officials above them.

As a king who promoted reform, Carlo was naturally warmly welcomed and loved by the Spanish. If it is said that when Carlo just came to Spain, some people still slightly rejected this foreign king because of his Italian identity, then since the completion of the first five-year development plan, such rejection has completely disappeared.

People not only have no rejection of Carlo's Italian identity, but also think that he is the savior sent by God to Spain to save the Spaniards who were not well fed at the time.

Although part of this came from the propaganda of Carlo's public opinion empire, it is undeniable that the people's support and love for Carlo have been infinitely improved.

Compared with Amadeo I in history, Carlo has laid a relatively stable foundation for his descendants. As long as the monarchs behind him do not commit suicide, the throne of Spain can basically be passed down for a long time within the Savoy family.