Chapter 840 George V is critically ill

In the vast Mediterranean Sea, a fleet is sailing slowly on the sea. The wind and waves on the Mediterranean are not big, and the blue water and the blue sky in the distance are connected in a line, rendering a very splendid and beautiful scenery.

This fleet transported part of Spain's gold to Australasia, completing the second step of the agreement between Spain and Australasia, which was to transfer Spain's gold to Australasia.

Of course, the transaction between the two parties cannot be completed in one go. It is impossible for Australasia to give Spain a large amount of weapons and equipment at once, and it is impossible for Spain to hand over all its gold to Australasia at once.

Navigating the Mediterranean, the Australasian fleet maintained a high level of vigilance.

The amount of gold transported by the fleet was as high as 50 tons, accounting for about one-tenth of Spain's total gold reserves, and the total value was very huge.

The actual value of 500 tons of gold is equivalent to A$515 million. Even one-tenth of it would be equivalent to 51.5 million Australian dollars, which is fully one-ninth of Australasia's annual fiscal revenue.

What the Australasian fleet is guarding against is naturally the Italian fleet in the Mediterranean. The actual value of these 50 tons of gold is enough to witness 5 main battleships, and the potential value is far more than 5 main battleships.

If the Italian army really couldn't think of it and used all its warships to attack the fleet transporting gold, this transport fleet would not necessarily be an opponent of the Italian navy.

Of course, this possibility is slim. Italy has already chosen to give in before, and there is a high probability that they will not change their minds in a short time unless they are ready for war.

The good news is that the fleet traveled across the entire Mediterranean from west to east without seeing any trace of the Italian fleet.

This at least proves one thing. Italy has no plans to offend Australasia for the time being, and Europe will not face a full-scale war for the time being.

Passing through the Suez Canal in the southeastern Mediterranean, and then passing through the narrow and long Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the fleet finally arrived in the Indian Ocean.

This also means that this transport fleet is completely safe. In the Indian Ocean, which is jointly escorted by the British and Australasian fleets, safety can be guaranteed.

After successfully arriving in Australasia, the gold was transported to the Royal Bank headquarters in St. Arthur's Castle, where it was stored in the heavily guarded Royal Vault.

This vault was planned at the same time as the construction of St. Arthur's Castle, and it is considered one of the most heavily guarded areas in Australasia.

As the largest bank in the entire empire, the Royal Bank is where currency, gold, and other high-value items are stored. The Royal Treasury has an entire vault guard team, with more than 300 people patrolling in and around the vault in three shifts.

It can be said that without Arthur's permission, no fly will fly into the vault. The vault is surrounded by multiple layers of special steel plates. Even if an army wants to conquer the vault, it will take hours.

And in Australasia, apart from the palace, no place is more secure than the royal treasury.

Not only the currency and gold of the Royal Bank are stored here, but also precious items belonging to the government and a large number of Royal Bank customers are stored here.

Australasia currently holds more than 1,900 tons of gold reserves, the vast majority of which are stored in the Royal Vaults.

From this we can also see the importance of the royal treasury. Even with Arthur's permission, layers of procedures and multiple inspections are required to gain entry.

As time came to July 1935, Arthur finally understood why the British had been silent in the Spanish Civil War.

King George V, who has ruled Britain for 25 years and led the British Empire to victory in World War I, is now terminally ill and will die soon.

This is not alarmist talk, but news announced by the British Empire.

As an ally of the British Empire, Australasia was naturally the first group of countries to get the news.

Arthur was actually not surprised when he heard the news that George V would soon die.

As early as the last time he saw George V, Arthur found that his mental state was not good. George V was born on June 3, 1865, a full 23 years older than Arthur.

Although they are of the same generation in terms of seniority, George V is now over 70 years old and is a real senior citizen.

After taking over the throne at the age of 55 and ruling the British Empire for 25 years, George V was relatively long-lived.

But the bad news is that George V inherited the throne of Edward VII. And soon after he took over Britain, the British Empire faced one of the largest wars in human history, the First World War, which was named the European Super War.

Although the British Empire successfully won the World War, some of the concessions made by George V during this war also caused him to completely lose control of the government.

The glory of the Victorian era also ended completely when George V succeeded to the throne, and the majesty of the British Empire was constantly being challenged.

Along with the news that George V was critically ill, came a letter written by George V himself in Australasia.

In this letter, George V clearly stated his concerns about his two sons, and asked Arthur to fulfill his previous agreement with him and help the British royal family stabilize the throne in the future.

After all, George V was a sensible man. Although his son, Prince Edward's behavior so far is not that outrageous, he is not suitable to be the King of England after all.

The status of the British royal family today is not as stable as it was in the Victorian era. If Crown Prince Edward is allowed to cause trouble for a period of time, various waves of revolution may break out in the British Empire, and it may even be possible to overthrow the British royal family.

George V placed his hopes on Arthur. In addition to Arthur being a member of the British royal family, another major reason was that Australasia was a close ally of Britain and would not pose much of a threat to Britain in Europe. .

Want to help the British royal family stabilize the throne? Of course.

As the most powerful country in the world, the British Empire maintains its monarchy system of government, which is good news for monarchies around the world.

As for the monarchy itself, the more countries that implement it, the more stable the concept of monarchy will be.

Secondly, a UK with a monarchy is obviously closer to Arthur than a UK with a democratic republic.

What's more, the current British royal family and Arthur can be considered a family. Although George V changed the surname of the British royal family, in terms of blood relationship, the two royal families share a common grandmother and grandfather, that is, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Moreover, helping the British stabilize the throne is equivalent to helping the British stabilize the domestic political order.

Europe is becoming more and more chaotic, and war will break out when it is not guaranteed.

For Arthur, only a relatively stable Britain could afford to assume the role of a major country against Germany.

Under the premise that the French are not reliable, the stronger Britain is, the easier it will be for Australasia's plans in Europe to succeed.

Obviously, George V's critical illness received a lot of attention from the British government.

The death of a king who was quite prestigious among the people was definitely a heavy blow to the British.

Look at the heir of George V, Crown Prince Edward, who is considered famous among European royal families. His reputation is not even bad, it is simply terrible.

Not to mention the unconfirmed tidbits about Prince Edward, just counting the number of mistresses who have been identified, there are already more than ten.

Although the vast majority of these are consensual, this has caused substantial damage to the reputation of the royal family.

The people didn't want to see a prince with a lot of sexy news become their monarch. What's even worse is that the relationship between Prince Edward and the Anglican Church is not very good.

As early as 1928, King George V presented Belvedere Castle in Berkshire to Prince Edward as a residence.

George V's original intention was to let Edward, as the crown prince, have his own private residence so that he could have a larger private space.

But unexpectedly, Prince Edward had his own private space, and what he did far exceeded George V's imagination.

In just a few years, Prince Edward had many affairs with married women, including the more famous Frieda Dudley Ward, the Marchioness of Furness and Wallis Simpson.

Yes, it is the heroine of the famous incident of loving beauty over country, Prince Edward’s favorite mistress, Mrs. Simpson.

Why specifically mention Mrs. Simpson?

Because at this time, Wallis Simpson was already a married woman who had been married twice. When she had an affair with Prince Edward, Mrs. Simpson had not yet been divorced, and her husband, Ernest Simpson, and Mrs. Simpson were still very loving.

However, shortly after Prince Edward and Mrs. Simpson dated, Simpson divorced her husband Ernest and became Prince Edward's mistress.

The thing that made the relationship between George V and Prince Edward sour was that after Mrs. Simpson's divorce, Prince Edward proposed to George V and asked to marry Mrs. Simpson.

This was simply unacceptable to George V. Let’s not talk about the importance that European royal families place on bloodline and noble status.

Even if Mrs. Simpson was born into a European aristocracy, with her two marriages, she would never have become the Crown Princess of the British Empire.

After all, the crown princess is the future queen. For such a woman to become the future queen of the United Kingdom, this will be a huge blow to the reputation of the entire British royal family.

King George V's harsh rejection was not taken seriously by Prince Edward. Although the idea of ​​marrying Mrs. Simpson was forcibly interrupted, Prince Edward still maintained close contact with Mrs. Simpson.

It was also from this incident that George V was completely disappointed with Crown Prince Edward, and reconsidered the successor to the throne, Prince Edward's younger brother, Prince Albert, also known as George VI.

However, with George V alone, it is impossible for him to change the succession law of the British throne or force Prince Albert to succeed.

This is why George V asked Arthur for help. Although it cannot change the fact that Crown Prince Edward will succeed the king, George V believes that Crown Prince Edward's becoming the King of England is temporary.

After becoming the King of England, Prince Edward's ambitions will be infinitely magnified.

By then, without the restraint of George V, Crown Prince Edward, who has a corrupt private life, is destined to encounter opposition from the cabinet and the church, and even a throne crisis.

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