Chapter 181: Birth of the Eldest Son

As time reached the end of May 1875, one of the most important events in life finally arrived for Carlo.

That was that Queen Sophie was about to give birth, and Carlo was about to welcome his first child.

After Queen Sophie felt unwell, Carlo nervously called for the palace doctors who were on standby, as well as many maids waiting for instructions.

Sure enough, after the doctor, who was very experienced in midwifery, checked Queen Sophie's condition, she immediately realized that Queen Sophie was about to give birth.

This instantly made the entire palace busy, with servants constantly entering and exiting to carry out preparations under the doctor's orders.

Fortunately, the room prepared for Queen Sophie's delivery was very large; Carlo accompanied Queen Sophie, with many doctors standing by the bedside with serious expressions, and behind them were busy servants.

Although the doctors suggested that Carlo wait outside, Carlo still decided to accompany Queen Sophie through the entire delivery process.

This was not only a very dangerous matter but would also bring extreme pain to Queen Sophie. In an era without cesarean sections, giving birth relied entirely on natural delivery.

Long before the delivery began, Carlo had repeatedly instructed the doctors. If any problems arose during the entire process, then do not hesitate; prioritize protecting Queen Sophie's safety.

Carlo was still young and it was not yet a time when he could not have children at all. For Carlo, Queen Sophie was more important than the unborn child.

Regardless of whether it was a boy or a girl, before he arrived in this world, the Spanish royal family currently only had two people, and that was Carlo and Queen Sophie.

Perhaps Carlo's personal company had a certain encouraging effect, or perhaps Queen Sophie's body was very healthy under the royal family's careful conditioning; in short, the entire delivery process was quite smooth.

On May 28, 1875, with a cry, Carlo welcomed his first child, his eldest son, Hu An Fernando.

"Carlo, this is our child." Queen Sophie, who had experienced the entire delivery process, was exhausted, but she still braced herself to see her child, looking at Carlo with a face full of happiness and pride, wearing a gentle smile.

"Yes, it is our child. You've worked hard, Sophie, you are a great mother." Carlo nodded, carefully brushing the hair from Queen Sophie's forehead behind her ears, then gently kissed her forehead, before taking the child held by the maid Anna, and once again brought him close to Queen Sophie.

The quirky Anna looked at the harmonious and loving royal family with some envy, her eyes carrying a trace of regret, but it immediately dissipated.

Her background was completely different from Queen Sophie's, and her status was merely Carlo's maid. Although she had an unusual relationship with Carlo, it was clear that their relationship could not be brought into the open.

This also meant that it was difficult for Anna to bear children for Carlo, and even if there were children, they would ultimately only be illegitimate children without status.

But for the two maids, Anna and Alice, they were already very satisfied with their current status. This was not a peaceful and beautiful era, and the encounters of beautiful young girls would not be that romantic.

Beautiful women could rely on their looks to attract those high-ranking officials and nobles, but they could never become their wives.

Because European nobles valued social standing. If nobles married a commoner wife, their children would also lose their right to inherit titles.

Although they would not receive any status in the future, the mistress of the King of Spain was still much better than the mistresses of those ordinary capitalists and nobles.

At least Carlo was quite good to them, and Queen Sophie did not pay too much attention to Carlo's affairs with mistresses.

Even though Queen Sophie knew that Anna and Alice had an unusual relationship with Carlo, she still allowed Anna and Alice to continue serving as her and Carlo's personal maids; this was already an open indulgence.

Regarding the birth of his eldest son, Carlo did not intend to hide anything. That same evening, telegrams were sent out in a public form to various European countries, among which the first ones sent were to the Italian and Austro-Hungarian governments.

Italy and the Austro-Hungarian government also gave feedback quickly; Vittorio Emanuele II happily congratulated Carlo on the birth of his eldest son and stated that he would grant Carlo's eldest son the title of Count of Genoa, Italy.

Franz Joseph I's reply also came quickly. Because Carlo had already mentioned that Queen Sophie was in good health, Franz Joseph I felt relieved and stated that he would visit Spain with some officials from the Austro-Hungarian government within this year.

Franz Joseph I's visit to Spain was nominally to see his daughter and eldest grandson, but the actual meaning naturally went beyond that.

The main reason was that Spain's strength had currently recovered, and the Austro-Hungarian government naturally attached more importance to Spain as an ally.

The main reason was that there were no conflicts of interest between Spain and the Austro-Hungarian government, which also allowed the alliance relationship between the two countries to be stable and had the hope of being maintained for a long time.

Besides the little guy's grandfather and maternal grandfather, a large number of kings in the European royal family who were related to Carlo sent congratulatory telegrams to Spain; only with a successor to the throne would Spain tend toward true stability, and the national strength would be truly powerful.

A king without a successor did not have a very solid position, because once an accident occurred, the succession of the throne would face many problems.

In Europe during this era, accidents were not rare. Especially after rifle technology developed, the ways kings were assassinated also increased.

One of the reasons why Carlo kept building his reputation in Spain was that he did not want to be assassinated by the Spanish people all day long.

This was no joke. Historically, Prime Minister Prim died in an assassination, which also made the Savoy dynasty in Spain a joke in history, a joke that only lasted a few years before being forced to give up.

On the day Prince Hu An Fernando was born, many factories on the outskirts of Madrid were brightly lit. Many of them were printing plants; they had close cooperation with various newspaper offices and needed to urgently print news about the birth of the royal eldest son in a short time, and transport it to major cities around Madrid for sale the next day.

Do not underestimate the popularity of the royal family in Spain, especially things related to Carlo. Unlike other European countries, the history of Spain's founding had a close relationship with Catholicism, and Catholicism had a close relationship with the monarchy.

The public had an unusual affection for the king, especially when most of the country consisted of conservative farmers; the public's support for the king was very high.

Against the backdrop of Carlo and Prime Minister Prim's reforms making Spain prosperous, Carlo naturally received such preferential treatment.

Especially with the powerful propaganda of public opinion, the Spanish public actually loved Carlo, this foreign king, very much, and even affectionately called him the "Savior sent by God."

Speaking of which, this also had a certain connection with Carlo's Italian background. The center of Catholicism was in the Vatican, and the Vatican was located in Italy.

As an Italian, it was not strange for Carlo to be promoted and deified as a savior sent by God.

Although the reality was that Italy had always wanted to recover the Vatican but was forced to give up due to the pressure of Catholic believers, who among the commoners cared about these things?

They were more willing to believe that Carlo was the Spanish savior sent by God, who came to save the Spaniards who had been oppressed by the evil Bourbon family for hundreds of years.

Even if some people did not believe it at first, the newspaper offices said so, and the surrounding relatives and friends also said so; under the subtle influence, they naturally believed it.

It was precisely because of such propaganda that Carlo had extremely high popularity within Spain. Although most of the public's attitude toward Carlo did not reach the level of die-hard fans, at least a considerable number of people had a very good impression of Carlo.

In this monarchy, having a good impression meant loyalty to the king. As long as Carlo did not personally issue any tyranny, basically the public's support for the king would not decrease much.

It can only be said that this was a feature of this era. Although technology was relatively backward, it also led to the ignorance of these populations.

As long as there was some public opinion propaganda to assist, it could make Carlo's impression in most people's hearts become extremely good, and even become a very positive and great image.

Under the influence of herd mentality, the effect of such propaganda would become better and better, and it would also give Carlo a higher status and influence in the hearts of the Spanish people.

For Carlo, such a thing was naturally good news. However, this also represented the power of public opinion, and that Carlo must master the power of public opinion.

As long as the power of public opinion could be grasped in his hands, Carlo's throne would not fear any provocation from anyone. The power of public opinion could not only unite the people of the entire country into a rope, but also allow Carlo to become the controller of this rope.

Although personality cult also had many shortcomings, for Spain at this time, perhaps personality cult was the fastest way to improve the country's comprehensive strength and enhance national cohesion.

Without much thought, a united Spain, moving forward bravely under Carlo's orders, was definitely more powerful than a Spain with fierce factional struggles and endless arguments between monarchy and republicanism.

At least Carlo had the confidence to control this big ship of Spain, letting Spain sail toward a bright and warm harbor, rather than a storm in the ocean.

Back to the news about the royal eldest son that the newspaper offices were rushing to produce.

Although they had already learned the news of the birth of Carlo's eldest son, they did not know the little guy's name and specific photos.

However, these were no longer important; whoever could be the first to publish the newspaper would definitely be able to seize the top spot in newspaper sales the next day.

They could even use such an opportunity to grab a large amount of the newspaper market and improve the influence and popularity of the newspaper office.

There were also alternatives among the newspaper offices, such as the royal-owned Spain Sun and Spain National Daily.

These two newspapers were also urgently printing the big news of the birth of Carlo's eldest son, but their news was obviously more detailed.

They not only knew the name of Carlo's eldest son, but also knew the birth time of the eldest son and the news that he had already obtained the title of Count of Genoa, Italy.

It was not strange for Carlo's eldest son to obtain an Italian count title; after all, Carlo was also an Italian prince, the two royal families had a blood relationship, and the two kings were even more of a father-son relationship connected by flesh and blood.

But this could also prove the importance the King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II, attached to this child; after all, European kings rarely granted titles to princes of other countries.

Carlo's Duke of Chablais title was obtained before he became the King of Spain, which naturally could not be counted. But Carlo's eldest son, Hu An Fernando, was already the first heir to the Spanish throne and also the first heir to the Duke of Chablais; under such circumstances, to still be able to obtain the title of Count of Genoa, Vittorio Emanuele II's importance was evident.

What made several newspaper editors regret was that the Austro-Hungarian side did not seem to have granted any noble title to the newly born prince of Spain.

Otherwise, being granted noble titles by two foreign countries at birth would definitely be big news and could attract more people's interest.

Fortunately, their regret did not last long. Not long after, Carlo had another major decision, which was to grant his eldest son, Hu An Fernando, the title of Duke of Montblanc.

The Duke of Montblanc was relatively special in the Spanish noble system; of course, this was for the Catalonia region.

When the Catalonia region existed as a sovereign state, the title of Duke of Montblanc was equivalent to the crown prince of Catalonia.

Of course, at this time, the Catalonia region was just an ordinary large region of Spain, and the Duke of Montblanc was just an ordinary ducal title.

For Spain, the noble title with the symbolic meaning of crown prince, like the Prince of Wales in the UK, was the Prince of Asturias.

However, Carlo had long decided that he would not strictly use the primogeniture system.

If the eldest son's ability was not qualified, the future candidate for the King of Spain would be selected from his other children who had excellent abilities.

But if the eldest son's ability was qualified, Carlo did not intend to cause more trouble. Judging whether a prince's ability was qualified required letting him undergo a certain degree of testing.

Carlo had already formulated the tests that Hu An Fernando needed to undergo in the future. He not only had to receive a fairly strict elite noble education from a young age, but also needed to enter a military academy at the age of 16 to study, and become an ordinary officer after graduation.

After at least three years of training in the army, Carlo would let him gradually come into contact with government affairs and exercise his political abilities.

During this period, as long as Carlo felt that his eldest son's ability was qualified, he would grant him the title of Prince of Asturias, making him the true crown prince of Spain.

But if his performance was not good and there was no potential for improvement after coming into contact with government affairs, Carlo would consider changing to someone with more ability.

Of course, this was a matter for the distant future. Carlo also believed that his child was not a mediocre person, and under his cultivation, he would at least grow into a qualified monarch.

According to Carlo's age, his reign could basically cover World War I and World War II.

This also meant that his son only needed to develop the country step by step and did not need to face a cruel world war.

To a certain extent, the requirements for the heir to the throne had been lowered. After all, world wars were unpredictable, and one carelessness could plunge a country that had finally developed into an abyss.

If he did not have enough ability, Carlo did not want to see his son experience a world war as the ruler of the country; this would very likely make him the final scapegoat.

Just like Wilhelm II after World War I. Wilhelm II was indeed the person who started World War I, but the actual commanders of Germany in the middle and late stages of World War I had become Hindenburg and the Junker nobles.

What was the final result? Hindenburg became the President of Germany, while Wilhelm II, who was hollowed out in the middle and late stages of the war, was abolished from the throne.

After a night of urgent printing, the news of Carlo's joy at the birth of his eldest son spread throughout the streets and alleys of Spain the next day.

Of course, the main place of dissemination was still around Madrid. To spread to other parts of Spain, it would take a longer time.

These newspaper offices basically bet right, because the public was very concerned about the news of the birth of Carlo's eldest son. The sales of newspapers on this day were several times higher than the previous day, making these newspaper offices that decided to urgently print newspapers on a temporary basis earn a lot of money.

The most profitable ones were naturally the Sun and the National Daily. They not only reported the birth of Carlo's eldest son step by step, but also revealed that the name of Carlo's eldest son was Hu An Fernando.

Of course, this must have been revealed with Carlo's permission. Spain's current control over public opinion agencies was relatively strict; if Carlo did not want to, news about the royal family would be difficult to appear in newspapers, let alone newspapers like the Sun and the National Daily that were in the hands of the royal family.

Newspaper offices could certainly report news about the royal family or even fake news to attract attention, but the price paid would be more miserable than the gains obtained.

Someone bold had tried it before, and in the end, not only did they face a fine of tens of thousands of pesetas, but the senior management of the newspaper office was also thrown into prison.

Prime Minister Prim also supported the royal family's strengthening of control over public opinion. After all, the royal family mainly managed newspaper reports about the royal family; on this point, Prime Minister Prim maintained the same attitude as Carlo, which was to report beneficial news about the royal family as much as possible.

If there was a phenomenon of deliberately smearing the royal family, it would hit the existing Spanish monarchy system. If the Spanish monarchy system collapsed, the stable development situation that Spain had finally maintained would be wasted.

Prime Minister Prim saw the situation very clearly. For Spain at present, the importance of the king had increased to an infinite degree.

If Spain became a republic, those nationalists who had already fallen silent would definitely jump up again to seek their independence.

Without the King of Spain, the big title that integrated all regions of Spain, as a legal basis, what other way would the Spanish government have to integrate all regions? Relying on glib talk? Of course, that was impossible.

Five thousand words in a two-in-one chapter, please support!





(End of this chapter)