Chapter 809 George V’s Request

The grand occasion when the empire was founded seemed to be short-lived. In addition to the people of Australasia who were still celebrating, high-level foreign governments and royal families had already embarked on their way back.

Of course, there were still many government representatives and royal families who chose to stay and prepare to celebrate Arthur's birthday.

This is Arthur's first birthday after becoming emperor, and it also means that Arthur has officially turned 45 and is gradually moving towards the 50-year-old mark.

Although representatives from various countries and the royal family constantly praised his political maturity, Arthur was already exhausted from the numerous government affairs every day.

If William hadn't grown up and taken over a considerable part of the government affairs, Arthur would have felt that his day as king would not be easy.

Especially since he is already 50 years old, Arthur does not intend to control the imperial power until the day he dies.

Handing the throne to William at the right time is the choice that is most conducive to the stability of the country and the inheritance of the throne.

Even more than just Arthur, Arthur will also teach and ask future monarchs to proactively give up the throne at the appropriate time to consider his heirs and future generations.

The most striking example is right before our eyes, that is Queen Victoria, who once ruled Britain during the Victorian era.

Queen Victoria remained the Divine Majesty of the British Empire until the day she died of old age.

Although Arthur has no opinion on this, it cannot be denied that the frequent succession of thrones in the British Empire after Queen Victoria and the gradual loss of the power of the British king are partly related to Queen Victoria's long stay on the throne.

Queen Victoria's son, Edward VII, was born in 1841 and was already 60 years old when he became king.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the average life expectancy of Europeans was only 5 years. This means that Edward VII is already very old at 60 years old. Even if he gets a better medical team than ordinary people, it is inevitable that he will not stay on the throne for a long time.

What's more terrible is that because of Edward VII's informality and indiscretion, Queen Victoria has never allowed Edward VII to take charge of any affairs related to government affairs.

It was not until Edward VII reached the age of 50 that he was allowed to gradually come into contact with government affairs.

A crown prince who is over 50 years old, what loyalty can officials have to him?

Because Britain is such an obvious example, Arthur will use himself as an example to ask every future monarch in Australasia to also pay attention to the successor to the throne.

When the crown prince reaches the age of 18, he must gradually start to get involved in government affairs in order to gain the loyalty of some officials.

Most of the representatives and royal families who continue to stay in Australia are familiar with Arthur, or are directly blood relatives and family members of Arthur.

It is worth mentioning that King George V of England also stayed. And from the look of George V, it seemed that he had something to discuss with Arthur.

Sure enough, on January 14, 1933, the day after Arthur's birthday, King George V approached Arthur and finally revealed the purpose of his trip.

The purpose of George V's trip was not only to take advantage of the opportunity to attend Arthur's coronation ceremony to get closer to Arthur, but also to ask for Arthur's help in royal affairs.

This has to mention the eldest son of George V, the famous Edward VIII in British history.

In fact, no matter which son George V admired, theoretically it had nothing to do with Arthur.

Although Arthur has the right to inherit the British throne, he is ranked very low in the line after all descendants of Edward VII.

But because Arthur and Queen Mary had become Princess Elizabeth's godparents before, they were naturally related to the succession of the British throne.

You know, Edward VIII, now Crown Prince Edward, has not married and had children so far.

According to common sense, the crown prince, who was born in 1894, is almost 37 years old.

If you don't marry and have children, when the crown prince succeeds to the throne and becomes the king in the future, there will be no energy and ability to pass on to future generations.

But George V obviously could no longer control Prince Edward, who had his own ideas. Like his grandfather of the same name, Crown Prince Edward had a very irregular private life.

Although he is not married yet, Prince Edward particularly likes to flirt with women, and he likes to have affairs with some married women. He looks like a playboy with a corrupt private life.

Although European royal families generally have lovers, most nobles value their reputation and protect their private lives very well.

Prince Edward is different. Crown Prince Edward did not shy away from reports of having affairs with some married women, which also dealt a heavy blow to the reputation of the British royal family.

In the original history, George V was very dissatisfied with his eldest son, Crown Prince Edward, and once said: "After my death, this child (Crown Prince Edward) will destroy himself within 12 months. I pray to God and hope that My eldest son will never marry, and nothing will ever stand in the way of Bertie (George VI) and Lilybeth (Elizabeth) succeeding to the throne."

The attitude of George V in speaking like this actually showed George V's dislike of Crown Prince Edward and his approval of the succession of George VI and later Queen Elizabeth.

So the question is, since George V hates and opposes the succession of Crown Prince Edward so much, why doesn't he change the crown prince?

This has to mention the restrictions placed on Edward V by the British constitutional monarchy. It is not easy to change the crown prince, and it will cause a huge blow to the reputation of the royal family.

If you want to change the crown prince, you must prove that the crown prince is no longer suitable to stay in his position.

Even if George V could replace the crown prince in this way, the reputation of the royal family would have long since disappeared after George VI succeeded to the throne.

Therefore, even if George V did not want to see Crown Prince Edward succeed to the throne, there were not many ways to oppose or even depose Crown Prince Edward.

And Prince Edward did indeed live up to the expectations of George V. The first marriage caused a constitutional crisis and without any descendants, the throne was peacefully succeeded by George VI.

The purpose of George V's approach to Arthur at this time was so that Arthur could help the British royal family when the British throne was in crisis in the future.

Arthur naturally nodded in agreement to George V's request. After all, he and Queen Mary are Princess Elizabeth's godparents, and it would not hurt Arthur for Princess Elizabeth to take the throne.

Moreover, seeing the current powerful enemy, it is also very important for Arthur to stabilize the British internally.

At least before the end of World War II, Arthur wanted to see a more powerful Britain, so that the war in Europe could become more chaotic and the foundation of colonial empires like Britain and France could be further depleted.

Moreover, if Australasia helps the British royal family, it will naturally be able to ask for more land during World War II and even achieve the goal of a smooth and peaceful takeover.

Arthur's requirements were not much. A complete Straits Settlements, plus some islands in the Indian Ocean, and dominance over other oil-producing areas in Arabia were enough to maintain Australasian hegemony.

As for India and Africa, Arthur had no interest at all. After World War II, even without the participation of the United States, Russia was destined not to let go of its extremely weak colonial empire.

The collapse of colonies is a matter of time. Even without the intervention of other countries, sooner or later these colonies will become independent.

Unless Arthur is willing to focus most of Australasia's energy on maintaining colonial order, this is obviously unrealistic for Arthur who wants to compete for global hegemony.

Before World War II, the great powers could forcibly control other countries. After World War II, they basically could only rely on economic control.

This is why Arthur wanted to establish a unified market and add countries such as the Philippines and Kalimantan to it.

As long as there is a single market, these two countries will not escape Australasian control.

Sometimes, economic control is more effective than all-round control. After all, the people will hate the person who stands on the surface, and they cannot see the deeper interests.

After talking to George V for a long time, Arthur was quite satisfied. At least judging from the attitude of George V, the British royal family has no intention of turning against Australasia.

What does this mean? The Anglo-Australian alliance can be maintained until the outbreak of World War II, and Arthur does not have to worry about unexpected surprises in the world situation that are different from history.

In the current world situation, the focus in Europe is still the Entente of Germany and Italy against the alliance of France and Austria.

It is worth mentioning that the two sides of the confrontation are still called the Entente and the Central Powers, but the members of the two major forces have long been turned upside down.

The British continued to maintain their balanced policy. They did not join either party in the two major military groups, but maintained neutrality like watching a drama.

The British remained neutral, and Arthur would naturally not take the initiative to stand up. For Australasia, the most important thing is to weaken Europe's power as much as possible.

In particular, Britain and France were among Arthur's weakening targets. This also means one thing. The Germans must find another strong ally in order for the British to abandon their regional balancing policy and join the alliance with France.

The question is, which country in Europe is a reliable ally of Germany and can make the British aware of the danger?

Arthur has looked at the entire European map. Most countries do not have this ability, and they will not join Europe's military confrontation so easily.

Although it is just a simple stand, if a war breaks out between the two major military groups, it will not be good news for those countries that hastily stand in line.

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