Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 177: Chapter 142: Encouraging Childbirth and Three Major Studies

In fact, since getting married, Carlo has faced a new issue, which is the matter of bloodline succession.

In other words, the primary task for Carlo after marriage is actually to have children.

This is not only true in the Royal Family; for the vast majority of noble families, the primary task of title succession is having children, followed by finding ways to expand their estates.

If there is no qualified heir to inherit one’s estate, what good is an empty kingdom or empire?

The country won’t perish, but if a family doesn’t have offspring to inherit, it will face extinction.

In European history, there are countless examples of extinction leading to the throne being passed to a branch or even another family, which has made European nobles very focused on bloodline succession.

It’s fine if one is unmarried, but if there’s no offspring three years after marriage, they will be arranged to find out the cause.

The method is quite simple: arrange for the noble to have many lovers. If a lover can get pregnant, it proves the problem lies with the noble’s wife.

If the lover also can’t get pregnant, then it’s likely the noble himself has the issue.

If it’s the noble himself, then it’s necessary to select a qualified heir among one’s relatives to inherit the title, such as the children of their brothers or sisters.

Carlo currently doesn’t have such worries. After all, it’s been less than a year since the marriage, and given the young age of Carlo and Queen Sophie, there’s no immediate plan to have a descendant.

Ultimately, it’s because the medical technology of this era is too poor. To ensure Queen Sophie’s future health, Carlo plans to wait until she is fully mature and ready before discussing the matter of having children.

It’s actually not far off. Queen Sophie was born in March 1855, and it’s only three months until she reaches adulthood.

However, considering the preparations before childbirth, and the duration of pregnancy, Carlo’s first child will be born at least two years later.

In consideration of the expansion of the Royal Family, Carlo’s children should certainly be as many as possible. After all, the Royal Family doesn’t worry about the expenses of having children, so the more, the better.

It can also set an example for the people of Spain. If His Majesty the King is working hard to have children, what reason do the people have not to contribute to the population growth of Spain?

Of course, to make Spaniards more enthusiastic about having children, their worries after the child is born, such as various expenses, must be addressed.

Besides making primary education obligatory, Carlo also plans to establish subsidies and rewards for having more children in Spain.

However, such subsidy and reward policies must be negotiated with the government. After all, it’s the government that spends the money, and if they don’t agree, there will certainly be some conflicts regarding such policies in the future.

Since the population is currently a major deficiency in Spain, the earlier the proposal to encourage childbirth is implemented, the better.

Just after Christmas, Carlo had Jovellar Soler propose a bill encouraging childbirth in the House of Representatives, to test Prime Minister Prim’s attitude.

The current parliament is controlled by Prime Minister Prim, so whether the bill passes entirely depends on Prime Minister Prim’s attitude toward it.

That’s also why Carlo had Jovellar Soler submit the proposal directly to the House of Representatives. If Prime Minister Prim supports it, the proposal will naturally be easily passed.

But if Prime Minister Prim doesn’t support the proposal, it won’t be possible to secure a majority in parliament even by joining forces with other parties.

This proposal submitted to parliament was quickly learned by Prime Minister Prim. Since Prime Minister Prim already knew that Jovellar Soler was loyal to Carlo, he naturally saw this proposal as coming from Carlo.

Initially, Prime Minister Prim didn’t have many reasons to reject the proposal in terms of content. The only point of discussion was the rewards and subsidies for families with more children, but this could be discussed within the Cabinet Government.

After all, the submission and amendment of laws are done by parliament, but the execution of such laws is up to the Cabinet Government.

Even if the proposal is passed by parliament, how the law is executed is still determined by the Cabinet Government.

Jovellar Soler was able to submit the proposal to the House of Representatives, presumably with Carlo’s support.

Since this is so, Prime Minister Prim naturally would not refuse. He respects Carlo quite a lot, just as Carlo respects his power in the Cabinet Government.

Carlo knows that Spain’s reform cannot proceed without Prime Minister Prim’s strong promotion, and Prime Minister Prim also knows that the success of reform cannot happen without Carlo’s strong support.

Royal power still has a significant influence in Spain, and as a Prime Minister who supports the monarchy, Prim certainly hopes to gain Carlo’s support, rather than stand against the King he helped ascend.

With Prime Minister Prim’s tacit consent, the proposal quickly passed in parliament. Although the Progressive Party holds most of the seats in parliament, the Conservative Party remains the second-largest in Spain.

Currently, in Spain’s parliament, the Progressive Party is the absolute major party and is currently the ruling party of Spain. The leader of the Progressive Party is Prime Minister Prim, and the majority of its members are from the Reform Faction.