Chapter 179 The birth of the eldest son

As time came to the end of May 1875, one of the most important things in Carlo's life finally arrived.

That is, Queen Sophie is about to give birth, and Carlo is about to welcome his first child.

After Queen Sophie felt unwell, Carlo nervously called the palace doctor who was on call at any time, and many maids waiting for instructions.

Sure enough, after the female doctor who was very experienced in delivering babies checked Queen Sophie's condition, she immediately realized that Queen Sophie was about to give birth.

This instantly made the entire palace busy, and servants who kept coming in and out were making preparations under the doctor's orders.

Fortunately, the room where Queen Sophie was preparing for delivery was very large. Carlo accompanied Queen Sophie. There were many serious doctors standing by the bed, and busy servants behind them.

Although the doctor suggested that Carlo wait outside the house, Carlo decided to accompany Queen Sophie to complete the entire delivery process.

This was not only a very dangerous thing, but also brought extreme pain to Queen Sophie. In an era without caesarean sections, giving birth can be done naturally.

Carlo had told the doctor many times before the delivery began. If there are any problems in the whole process, don't hesitate to protect Queen Sophie's safety first.

Carlo is still young, and it is not the time when he can't have children at all. For Carlo, Queen Sophie is more important than the unborn child.

Whether it is a boy or a girl, before he came into this world, there are only two people in the Spanish royal family, that is, Carlo and Queen Sophie.

Perhaps Carlo's personal company has a certain encouragement effect, or it may be that Queen Sophie's body is very healthy under the careful conditioning of the royal family. In short, the whole delivery process is quite smooth.

On May 28, 1875, with a cry, Carlo welcomed his first child, the eldest son Juan Fernando.

"Carlo, this is our child." Queen Sophie was exhausted after the whole delivery process, but she still saw her child with a happy and proud look at Carlo with a gentle smile.

"Yes, it's our child. Thank you for your hard work, Sophie. You are a great mother." Carlo nodded, carefully pushed the hair on Queen Sophie's forehead behind her ears, kissed her forehead gently, then took the child held by the maid Anna, and came to Queen Sophie again.

The quirky Anna looked at the harmonious and friendly royal family with some envy at this time, with a trace of regret in her eyes, but then it immediately dissipated.

Her background is completely different from Queen Sophie, and her identity is just Carlo's maid. Although she has an extraordinary relationship with Carlo, it is obvious that their relationship cannot be put on the surface.

This also means that it is difficult for Anna to give birth to children for Carlo. Even if there are children, they are only illegitimate children after all, and they will not have a name.

But for the two maids, Anna and Alice, they are already very satisfied with their current status. This is not a peaceful and beautiful era, and the experience of beautiful girls will not be so romantic.

Beautiful women can attract those high-ranking officials and nobles with their looks, but they can't become their wives.

Because the European nobles pay attention to the marriage between the families of equal status. If the nobles marry a wife of commoner status, their children will also lose the right to inherit the title.

Although they will not get any status in the future, the lovers of the King of Spain are always better than those of ordinary capitalists and nobles.

At least Carlo is not bad for them, and Queen Sophie did not pay too much attention to Carlo's lover.

Even when Queen Sophie knew that Anna and Alice had an unusual relationship with Carlo, she still allowed Anna and Alice to continue to serve as Carlo and her personal maids, which was already open and aboveboard.

Carlo did not intend to hide anything about the birth of his eldest son. That night, telegrams were sent to various European countries in an open form, and the first ones sent were to Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire also gave back quickly. Vittorio Emanuele II happily congratulated Carlo on the birth of his eldest son and said that he would grant Carlo's eldest son the title of Count of Genoa, Italy.

Franz Joseph I's reply was also very quick. Because Carlo had mentioned that Queen Sophie was in good health, Franz Joseph I was relieved and said that he would visit Spain with some officials of the Austro-Hungarian government this year.

Franz Joseph I's visit to Spain was nominally to visit his daughter and eldest grandson, but the actual meaning was naturally more than that.

The main reason is that Spain's strength has recovered, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire naturally attaches more importance to Spain as an ally.

The main reason is that there is no conflict of interest between Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which also makes the alliance relationship between the two countries stable and has the hope of maintaining it for a long time.

In addition to the little guy's grandfather and grandfather, a large number of kings in the European royal family who are related to Carlo have sent congratulatory telegrams to Spain. Only with an heir to the throne will Spain tend to be truly stable and the national strength will be truly strong.

The status of a king without an heir is not so stable, because once an accident occurs, the inheritance of the throne will face many problems.

In Europe at this time, accidents are not uncommon. Especially after the development of rifle technology, there are more ways for kings to be assassinated.

One of the reasons why Carlo kept building his reputation in Spain was that he didn't want to be assassinated by the Spanish people all day long.

This is no joke. Prime Minister Primo died in an assassination in history, which made the Savoy Dynasty in Spain a joke in history, a joke that was forced to give up after only a few years.

On the day when Prince Juan Fernando was born, many factories on the outskirts of Madrid were brightly lit. Many of them were printing houses, which had close cooperation with various newspapers. They needed to urgently print news about the birth of the eldest son of the royal family in a short period of time and transport it to major cities around Madrid for sale the next day.

Don't underestimate the popularity of the royal family in Spain, especially things related to Carlo. Unlike other European countries, the history of the establishment of Spain is closely related to Catholicism, and Catholicism is closely related to the monarchy.

The people have extraordinary feelings for the king, especially when most of the country is conservative farmers, the people's support for the king is very high.

Under the background that the reforms of Carlo and Prime Minister Primo made Spain flourish, Carlo naturally received such preferential treatment.

In particular, with the strong propaganda of public opinion, the Spanish people love Carlo, the foreign king, very much, and even affectionately call him "the savior sent by God".

Speaking of which, this is also related to Carlo's Italian origin. The center of Catholicism is in the Vatican, and the Vatican is located in Italy.

As an Italian, it is not surprising that Carlo was promoted and deified as the savior sent by God.

Although the real situation is that Italy has always wanted to regain the Vatican, but was forced to give up because of the pressure of Catholics, but who cares about these among the civilians?

They prefer to believe that Carlo is the Spanish savior sent by God to save the Spaniards who have been oppressed by the evil Bourbon family for hundreds of years.

Even if someone does not believe it at first, the newspapers say so, and the relatives and friends around them also say so, and they naturally believe it under the subtle influence.

It is precisely because of such propaganda that Carlo has a very high popularity in Spain. Although most people's attitude towards Carlo is not as loyal as diehards, at least a considerable number of people still have a good impression of Carlo.

In this monarchy, having a good impression means loyalty to the king. As long as Carlo does not personally promulgate any tyranny, the public's support for the king will not decrease too much.

It can only be said that this is the characteristic of this era. Although technology is relatively backward, it also leads to the ignorance of these people.

As long as there is some public opinion propaganda to assist, Carlo's impression in the hearts of most people will become extremely good, and even become a very positive and great image.

Under the influence of people, the effect of such propaganda will become better and better, and it will also give Carlo a higher status and influence in the hearts of the Spanish.

For Carlo, such a thing is of course good news. However, this also represents the power of public opinion, and Carlo must master the power of public opinion.

As long as he can master the power of public opinion, Carlo's throne will not be afraid of anyone's provocation. The power of public opinion can not only unite the people of the entire country into a rope, but also make Carlo the controller of this rope.

Although personality cult also has many disadvantages, for Spain at this time, perhaps personality cult is the fastest way to improve the country's comprehensive strength and enhance national cohesion.

No need to think too much, a united Spain that marches forward under Carlo's command will definitely be stronger than a Spain with fierce factional struggles and constant quarrels between the monarchy and the republic.

At least Carlo has the confidence to control the big ship of Spain and let Spain sail to a bright and warm harbor, rather than a storm in the ocean.

Let's talk about the news of the eldest son of the royal family that the newspaper is rushing to produce.

Although they have learned about the birth of Carlo's eldest son, they have not learned the name and specific photos of the little guy.

However, these are no longer important. Whoever can publish the newspaper first will definitely be able to grab the top spot in the sales of newspapers the next day.

Even with such an opportunity, they can grab a large number of newspapers in the market and increase the influence and popularity of the newspaper.

There are also alternatives among newspapers, such as the Spanish Sun and the Spanish National Daily under the royal family.

These two newspapers are also rushing to print the big news of the birth of Carlo's eldest son, but their news is obviously more detailed.

They not only knew the name of Carlo's eldest son, but also knew the time of his birth and the news that he had obtained the title of Count of Genoa, Italy.

It was not surprising that Carlo's eldest son obtained the title of Count of Italy. After all, Carlo was also an Italian prince. The royal families of the two countries were related by blood, and the kings of the two countries were even more flesh-and-blood father-son relationships.

But this also proved that King Vittorio Emanuele of Italy valued this child. After all, European kings rarely granted titles to princes of other countries.

Carlo's title of Duke of Chablais was obtained before he became the King of Spain, which naturally could not be counted. But Carlo's eldest son Juan Fernando was already the first heir to the Spanish throne, and also the first heir to the Duke of Chablais. Under such circumstances, he could still obtain the title of Count of Genoa, which showed the importance of Vittorio Emanuele II.

It was a pity for several newspaper editors that the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not seem to grant the title of the newly born prince of Spain.

Otherwise, being granted a distinguished noble title by two foreign countries at birth would definitely be big news and would attract more people's interest.

Fortunately, their regret did not last long. Not long after, Carlo made another major decision, which was to grant his eldest son Juan Fernando the title of Duke of Monteblanc.

The Duke of Monteblanc is quite special in the Spanish aristocracy system, of course, this is for the Catalonia region.

When the Catalonia region existed as a sovereign state, the title of the Duke of Monteblanc was equivalent to the Crown Prince of Catalonia.

Of course, at this time, the Catalonia region was just an ordinary region in Spain, and the Duke of Monteblanc was just an ordinary duke title.

For Spain, the noble title with the symbolic meaning of the crown prince, like the Prince of Wales in the United Kingdom, is the Prince of Asturias.

However, Carlo had already decided that he would not strictly use the primogeniture system.

If the eldest son's ability is not up to standard, the future king of Spain will be selected from his other children with better ability.

But if the eldest son's ability is still qualified, Carlo does not intend to cause trouble. To judge whether a prince's ability is qualified, he needs to undergo a certain degree of test.

Carlo has already set the test that Juan Fernando needs to undergo in the future. Not only does he have to receive a very strict elite aristocratic education since childhood, he also needs to enter a military academy at the age of 16 and become an ordinary officer after graduation.

After at least three years of military training, Carlo will gradually let him get involved in government affairs and exercise his political ability.

During this period, as long as Carlo feels that his eldest son is qualified, he will grant him the title of Prince of Asturias and make him the real crown prince of Spain.

But if he does not perform well after getting involved in government affairs and has no potential for improvement, Carlo will consider replacing him with a more capable one.

Of course, this is a long time in the future. Carlo also believes that his child is not a mediocre person, and under his training, he will at least grow into a qualified monarch.

At Carlo's age, his reign can basically cover World War I and World War II.

This also means that his son only needs to develop the country step by step, without having to face the cruel world war.

To a certain extent, the requirements for the heir to the throne have been lowered. After all, the world war is unpredictable, and if you are not careful, the country that has developed with great difficulty will fall into the abyss.

If he does not have enough ability, Carlo does not want to see his son experience a world war as a national ruler, which is likely to make him the final scapegoat.

Just like William II after World War I. William II was indeed the one who started World War I, but the actual commander of Germany in the middle and late stages of World War I had become Hindenburg and the Junker nobles.

What was the final result? Hindenburg became the president of Germany, and William II, who was sidelined in the middle and late stages of the war, was abolished from the throne.

After a night of expedited printing, the news that Carlo had his eldest son spread throughout the streets and alleys of Spain the next day.

Of course, the main place of dissemination is still around Madrid. It will take longer to spread to other parts of Spain.

These newspapers basically made the right bet, because the public was very concerned about the birth of Carlo's eldest son. The sales of newspapers on this day were several times that of the previous day. Don't let these newspapers that decided to print newspapers urgently make a lot of money.

The most profitable ones are naturally the Sun and El País. They not only reported the birth of Carlo's eldest son step by step, but also revealed that Carlo's eldest son's name is Juan Fernando.

Of course, this must be revealed with Carlo's permission. Spain's current control over public opinion agencies is still relatively strict. If Carlo doesn't want to, news about the royal family will hardly appear in newspapers, let alone newspapers like the Sun and El País that are controlled by the royal family.

Newspapers can of course report news about the royal family or even false news in order to attract people's attention, but the price paid is more severe than the benefits obtained.

There were bold people who tried it before, and in the end, not only did they face a fine of tens of thousands of pesetas, but all the senior executives of the newspapers were imprisoned.

Prime Minister Primo also supports the royal family's strengthening of control over public opinion. After all, the royal family is mainly responsible for newspaper reports about the royal family. On this point, Prime Minister Primo maintains the same attitude as Carlo, that is, reports about the royal family should try to report useful news.

If there is a phenomenon of deliberately discrediting the royal family, it will hit the existing monarchy system in Spain. If the monarchy system in Spain collapses, the stable development situation that Spain has finally maintained will be wasted.

Prime Minister Primo has a clear view of the situation. For Spain at present, the importance of the king has increased infinitely.

If Spain becomes a republic, those dormant nationalists will definitely jump up again to seek their own independence.

Without the title of the King of Spain, which integrates all regions of Spain, as a legal principle, how will the Spanish government integrate all regions? Is it by talking? Of course not.

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