Empire Rising: Spain

After a brief exchange of pleasantries and niceties, it was time to discuss the real issues.

Queen Sophie was quite astute. She felt the timing was right and invited Carlo’s sister, Queen Maria, to tour the gardens and other attractions within the royal palace, providing Carlo and King Luis with the private space they needed to discuss the matters at hand.

The two queens exited the banquet hall one after the other, and the conversation between Carlo and King Luis became more formal.

After all, Carlo and King Luis were not related by blood, nor were they particularly acquainted, so a formal manner of discussion was natural.

“Your Majesty Carlo, the changes in Spain over the past few years have been significant. Perhaps in a few years, under your rule, Spain indeed has the hope of reviving and once again becoming one of the Six Great European Powers alongside England, France, Germany, Russia, and Austria,” King Louis I of Portugal began by praising the changes in Spain, complimenting Carlo.

In King Louis I’s view, although Carlo was not yet 24 years old, he would certainly not oppose such flattering remarks too much, even if he didn’t feel particularly fond of them.

After all, who doesn’t like to hear good things? Especially a young king.

“This is the result of Prime Minister Prim’s efforts; it is his reforms that have created the powerful Spain we see today,” Carlo said with a smile.

The revival of Spain was indeed the result of Prime Minister Prim’s reforms, and Carlo’s contribution to it was minimal. By saying this, he not only acknowledged Prime Minister Prim’s achievements but also indicated to King Louis I that he didn’t hold much power in the Kingdom of Spain at present, so the Portuguese Royal Family shouldn’t have too high expectations of the Spanish Royal Family.

“The Prime Minister also operates under the King’s leadership; the King is the true master of a country,” King Louis I offered a counter-opinion with a smile, which also reflected his true thoughts.

For traditional European aristocrats like King Louis I, they always believed that the King was the true master of the country. Even if constitutional systems had taken away most of their power, as long as a king existed, the country belonged to the king.

This could also be seen from Carlo’s sister, Queen Maria. While Queen Maria had a great reputation in Portugal, even being called the “Angel of Charity” and the “Mother of the Poor” by the Portuguese people,

her extravagant behavior and some rather stubborn ideas were opposed by some, especially by some officials.

Several little stories passed down through later generations also proved this point. At a masquerade ball once, Queen Maria changed outfits three times in one evening, each costing several hundred pounds, as if she were adorned with gold and jewels.

This was no exaggeration, considering that at this time, one pound was equivalent to 7.33 grams of gold. The cost of each outfit equaled several kilograms of gold.

When the Portuguese Parliament discussed the Queen’s immense expenditures, Queen Maria expressed her stance: “If you want a queen, you must spend money on her.”

Queen Maria adhered to this principle. Most of the interior decorations of Lisbon Ajuda Palace were carried out under Queen Maria’s direction, for which the Portuguese Royal Family and government together spent more than the cost of an ironclad.

Queen Maria’s stubborn attitude toward monarchical absolutism was demonstrated in an incident Carlo heard about firsthand.

The year Carlo came to Spain, Queen Maria had a minor conflict with the current Duke of Saldanha in Portugal.

Conflicts between the queen and the nobility were inevitable, but Queen Maria expressed a rather firm and unyielding attitude, threatening the great Portuguese noble, Duke of Saldanha, by saying, “If I were the King, I would shoot you directly!”

The reason Queen Maria could maintain such a strong stance was naturally that her father, Vittorio Emanuele II, was the King of Italy, her brother Carlo was the King of Spain, and her husband Luis was the King of Portugal.

In truth, Maria’s way of conducting affairs and her ideology were not wrong, given that many nobles and kings at the time thought the same way.

There were nobles even more extravagant than Queen Maria, and many far more stubborn and autocratic than her.

The only issue was that Portugal, like Spain, was facing significant decline, and Portugal’s own strength was not substantial, which exacerbated domestic turmoil.

After King Luis passed away, Maria continued to be active in Portugal as the Queen Dowager, and she even served as a regent at one point.

Under her tutelage, her successor, Carlos I, also exhibited a relatively autocratic attitude and implemented a rather harsh and dictatorial rule.

The prolonged autocratic rule led to significant discontent among the Portuguese people, and the Braganza Dynasty’s rule in Spain, which lasted 270 years, ultimately collapsed.

The fall of the Kingdom of Portugal could not be wholly attributed to Queen Maria, but some of her actions did accelerate the kingdom’s demise.

For Carlo, though, this was not necessarily bad news and might even evolve into an opportunity for Spain to re-annex Portugal.

Indeed, in Carlo’s future plans for Spain, the annexation of Portugal was always a crucial step, second in importance only to Gibraltar.