Chapter 5 The Crown Prince's Gift

In fact, it is not the British Empire, but even for the royal families of most European monarchies, Queen Victoria is the benchmark of monarchies.

Queen Victoria, who is known as the grandmother of Europe, is not called that for nothing. The royal families of many countries have close blood relations with Queen Victoria. Even the German Emperor Wilhelm II, one of the great powers, is the grandson of Queen Victoria.

In 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 German Emperor Wilhelm II.

As the German Emperor Wilhelm II, he was always by Queen Victoria's side, which shows how high Queen Victoria's status is for the major European royal families.

Queen Victoria's idea was not surprisingly opposed by the vast majority of people. No one would be willing to let Queen Victoria, who is already over 80 years old, travel to the Isle of Wight 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 families can accept the blow of losing Queen Victoria.

However, no one could stop Queen Victoria, who was determined, even Prime Minister Robert and Crown Prince Edward.

The only thing to be thankful for was that Queen Victoria did not decide to leave immediately, but waited until Arthur had dealt with all the affairs before going to Australia with Arthur.

Although the Duke of Assai was assassinated at a young age, he left Arthur a lot of wealth and property.

Putting aside the two dukedoms and one earldom that have been exchanged for Australia, the castles and two military factories, a steel plant and a shipyard that originally belonged to the Duke of Arthur are worth at least hundreds of millions of pounds.

The Duke of Arthur also left a large number of shares in factories or companies in industries 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 fully cashed out to play the greatest role.

For Arthur, all the shares in his hands need to be cashed out. Although these shares may appreciate in the future, Arthur, who is about to go to Australia, obviously does not have much time to wait for these stocks to appreciate.

It would be better to convert all of them into pounds and contribute to Australia's development.

As for those shipyards, steel mills and military factories, it would be better to move them all to Australia if possible.

These factories are very scarce for Australia. They can not only fill the industrial gap in Australia for a long time, but also accelerate Australia's industrial and technological development.

As for the castles left by Duke Arthur, Arthur will not return to the British Empire if nothing unexpected happens, so there is no need to keep them.

These castles are all ancient castles with a history of hundreds of years. They cover a very large area, have very complete supporting infrastructure, and have gardens and multiple restaurants, as well as 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 fiscal revenue of the British Empire in one year.

The good news is that Butler Hunter was previously responsible for managing Duke Arthur's property, so he is very familiar with all of Duke Arthur's property.

After learning that Arthur planned to sell all his property and go to Australia, Butler Hunter did not object, but quietly helped Arthur sell the property he had managed.

Perhaps because the British Empire is now thriving and the developed economy has created many wealthy people, the sale of Duke Arthur's property was relatively smooth. It took only one month, and most of the stocks and castles had been sold.

Castles in particular were very popular with those nobles. Not only were they all sold, but they also brought Arthur a total of 70 million pounds in income.

Adding the income from the sale of shares, Arthur currently has a terrifying 87 million pounds in cash.

March 3, Buckingham Palace.

This is Arthur's last day in the British Empire, and it is also the day before Queen Victoria decides to travel.

The British government was extremely busy on this day. Not only did it have to deal with daily government affairs, but it also had to reconfirm Queen Victoria's preparations for tomorrow's trip.

As the queen of the British Empire, Queen Victoria's ceremonial standards for travel could not be low.

This time, Queen Victoria will not only bring up to 2,000 royal guards, but also a fleet of two battleships and five cruisers to escort her.

The royal family members including Princess Beatrice, Arthur, Princess Louise, Margaret and Patricia, as well as the palace butler Harvey and Deputy Prime Minister John accompanied her on the trip.

In order to take care of Queen Victoria's daily life, she also brought twelve servants, three maids, five cooks and two pastry chefs.

After making all the final preparations, Queen Victoria also began to say goodbye 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 fulfilled. Prince Edward seemed very relaxed and happy at this time. He smiled and told Arthur beside Queen Victoria: "Arthur, after you go to your territory, remember not to act recklessly. Your people are the foundation of the territory, and only a popular ruler can rule a country for a long time. Learn more from your grandmother and strive to be a qualified ruler."

"Yes, uncle." Although he didn't understand why Prince Edward seemed a little active, Arthur just thought it was his uncle's advice before he was about to leave.

"Edward, Arthur is leaving, don't you have any expression as an uncle?" Suddenly, Queen Victoria, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up and stared at Edward with a slightly meaningful look.

"Oh, damn, how could I forget such an important thing?" Prince Edward immediately broke out in a cold sweat, and then hurriedly said: "Arthur, I promised you a gift when you leave the territory, and now it's time to fulfill it. I heard that you were selling all your property some time ago, and I can't help you with anything. Let me give you 20 million pounds in my personal name, and then let the London Bank lend you 30 million pounds without interest. This is a belated birthday gift for you. Due to special circumstances, I couldn't have a happy birthday with you before, but I still want to say happy 17th birthday to you."

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