Empire Rising: Spain

A considerable portion of the state affairs required the personal handling of Vittorio Emanuele II before they could be finally decided, which might be one of the reasons why Emanuele II’s health continued to decline.

Do not be fooled by Italy’s relatively small size compared to other great powers, as it boasts a population of up to 28.66 million, more than 10 million over Spain.

Such a large population also means there are numerous state affairs that need handling, and a significant portion of these responsibilities fell on the shoulders of Vittorio Emanuele II.

For this King, who had experienced the pain of losing sons multiple times, his health indeed deteriorated amidst the long hours of busyness, yet he faced increasing state affairs, falling into a prolonged vicious cycle.

Although starting this year, Vittorio Emanuele II had delegated some of the affairs to his eldest son, Crown Prince Umberto, to handle, this only reduced his fatigue to a certain extent and couldn’t effectively improve his health condition.

Vittorio Emanuele II was very aware of the challenges he would face in the future.

However, because of this, he remained very concerned about the future development of his sons. The eldest son, Crown Prince Umberto, would inherit the Kingdom of Italy, and Vittorio Emanuele II was quite reassured of Umberto’s capability.

As a prince who received an elite traditional aristocratic education, Crown Prince Umberto showed a good performance in military aspects. He graduated from Carlo’s alma mater, the Turin Royal Military Academy, and had a decent performance in the Austro-Prussian War.

Italy’s role in the Austro-Prussian War was somewhat awkward because Italy had no impact on the war outcomes from start to finish.

If it were not for the Austrian Army’s significant withdrawal to guard against the Prussian Army, Italy might not have easily reclaimed Venice and captured South Tyrol.

Although the Italian military’s performance was rather poor, as a regular commander, Crown Prince Umberto’s performance in the war was quite excellent.

Even if the army faced defeat, Crown Prince’s overall performance was relatively calm, and he could even propose some countermeasures.

Although his overall ability wasn’t so excellent, if the goal was merely to succeed the throne and pass it down, Crown Prince Umberto was definitely qualified.

The second son, Amadeo, didn’t have much interest in state affairs and instead was more willing to host balls, inviting local noble ladies to attend.

Vittorio Emanuele II was not too concerned about these romantic affairs of his son. With Crown Prince Umberto inheriting the Italian throne and Carlo doing well in Spain, these two were enough to ensure their brother Amadeo could enjoy a leisurely noble life.

Carlo was also quite concerned about his father Vittorio Emanuele II’s health.

Although he had only been in this world for a few years, Carlo indeed felt fatherly love from his father, which was quite precious in the Royal Family.

Though there are certain differences between Eastern and Western Royal families, the King is the ruler of a country, especially such a real-power King as Vittorio Emanuele II.

His prompt agreement to an interest-free loan for Carlo showed that his feelings for Carlo were indeed sincere.

In their telegraph exchanges, Carlo informed Queen Sophie of the approximate delivery date and agreed to return to Italy with his family within a year to visit his father.

After dealing with some sundry matters, Carlo finally welcomed a long period of leisure.

After all, Carlo didn’t hold that much power at the moment; most of the Spanish government’s affairs were handled by Prime Minister Prim.

For Carlo, perhaps this wasn’t a bad thing. At least he had some rights in his hands to ensure his authority wouldn’t be completely sidelined.

On this basis, he could instead enjoy a lot of leisure time, living his life in this world.

After all, a king is also a person who needs rest and entertainment. A life full of handling state affairs is more of a torment for a king.

Not everyone can endure a busy life of dealing with state affairs early in the morning, attending to matters after meals, and meeting with government officials and foreign guests during afternoon tea.

The greater the power, the greater the responsibility; this phrase is not just rhetoric. Since becoming the Spanish Prime Minister, Prim’s rate of aging had accelerated several times compared to before.

The main reason is that the burden of Spanish reforms was entirely on Prime Minister Prim. The matter of reform concerned not only the fate of Prime Minister Prim and Carlo but also the future development of Spain, which must be handled with utmost earnestness.

This also led to extremes where Prime Minister Prim’s daily sleep didn’t exceed five hours, and he had to constantly travel around Spain to inspect the enforcement of government-issued reform policies.

Only after the official performance evaluation system was implemented did the burden on Prime Minister Prim slightly lighten.

With time arriving in mid-April 1875, Carlo was almost daily by Queen Sophie’s side, accompanied by a large number of servants and doctors.

Queen Sophie discovered her pregnancy in late October, but by then, it had already been a few months. After all, the current technology wasn’t advanced enough to detect pregnancy in a short time.

Calculating based on ten months of pregnancy, Queen Sophie’s delivery should take place between April and June. Although no delivery signs were evident, Carlo, being a first-time father, was somewhat filled with anticipation and nervousness.

As he was about to welcome his first child, Carlo was undoubtedly excited. However, due to the great danger of childbirth in this era, Carlo was unwilling to see his wife Queen Sophie or his child facing danger.

This was an unavoidable fact, as childbirth remained an extremely dangerous thing before the advancement of medical technology.

Only natural birth was an option in this era. Cesarean sections could be performed, but healing the wound was a significant issue, with a great risk of infection.

Facing an infection could lead almost certainly to only one outcome, death, regardless of one’s status.

The birth of various antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs will need to wait for decades. Though Carlo had already vigorously developed Spain’s biology and medicine, improvements couldn’t be made in a short time.

Perhaps by the time of Carlo’s next generation, the future princes and princesses, they would enjoy a more advanced and safer medical environment.

The Royal Family was about to welcome its first prince or princess, a big news in today’s Spain.

Prime Minister Prim’s reforms were quite successful, as evidenced by the continual growth of Spain’s per capita income. As people were able to have more food and live better lives, naturally, they would be grateful to the king and the high officials of the government.

As a king who propelled the reforms, Carlo was warmly welcomed and adored by the Spaniards. If there were some who were initially somewhat repulsive to the foreign King due to Carlo’s Italian identity upon his arrival in Spain, such repulsion vanished entirely after the completion of the first five-year development plan.

Not only did people have no antipathy towards Carlo’s Italian identity, but they also regarded him as a savior sent by God for Spain, coming to rescue the Spaniards who couldn’t fill their stomachs back then.

Although part of this was due to the propaganda of Carlo’s media empire, it was undeniable that the populace’s support and admiration for Carlo had grown immensely.

Compared to the historical Amadeo I, Carlo had laid a more stable foundation for his descendants. As long as future monarchs do not ruin it themselves, the Spanish throne can continue to be passed down within the Savoy Family.