Chapter 211: Eldest Daughter Sophia

As time came to November 1876, Gao Da was about to usher in his second child.

Fortunately, with the experience of the last childbirth, the birth of the second child, although also valued, Gao Da was no longer so nervous.

Because of recuperating her body for more than half a year before pregnancy, Wang Hou Sophia's body was very healthy during her second pregnancy, and she did not face any danger during childbirth.

Just like this, in a quite smooth way, Gao Da ushered in his second child, the eldest daughter Sophia.

As early as when the first child was born, Gao Da had already thought of the names of his eldest son and eldest daughter.

The name of the eldest son was Juan Fernando, and the name of the eldest daughter was Sophia. Of course, if the second child was still a son, then he would be named Martin.

Because of having an eldest son before, Gao Da had no requirements for the gender of the second child. Gao Da even hoped to possess a daughter; after all, a little cotton-padded jacket was much more reassuring than a little naughty boy.

Of course, Gao Da was not worried about his children being naughty at all. The strict elite aristocratic education personally formulated by Gao Da would not give them time to be naughty.

By now, Prince Juan Fernando, who was only one and a half years old, had already begun to be taken to learn Spanish words and some simple words.

When he grew up a little more, he would begin to learn more knowledge and truly begin a relatively busy time.

After all, he was Gao Da's eldest son, and the future throne had a great possibility of being passed on to Juan Fernando.

Therefore, Gao Da was quite serious about Juan Fernando's cultivation. Not only did he have to learn all kinds of education received by traditional nobles, but he also had to learn a lot of newly discovered knowledge, as well as history, politics, and psychology courses necessary for a monarch.

Later, he had to go to the army to serve for 2 to 3 years, cultivate some confidants in the army, and then he could complete the entire cultivation plan for the heir to the throne.

After that, Juan Fernando could gradually begin to contact government affairs, waiting for the day Gao Da passed the throne to him.

As long as the entire cultivation process was relatively smooth, then he was the first heir to the Spanish throne. But if Juan Fernando performed poorly in the cultivation process of the heir to the throne, Gao Da would also consider passing the throne to a more excellent child.

The King of Spain naturally represented huge power, but at the same time, it also represented arduous responsibility and obligation. Gao Da's attitude was very clear: if the ability was not enough, even the eldest son could not inherit the throne.

No matter if it was Juan Fernando or other princes who would be born in the future, the first 20 years of their lives would be very hard.

But for princesses like Sophia, they did not have to suffer such misery.

Daughters naturally also needed to be cultivated, but after all, they were not heirs to the throne, so cultivation did not need to be so strict.

They only needed to learn some cultural knowledge and then choose the major they were relatively interested in to learn. After they graduated from university, Gao Da would arrange what they would do in the future.

After Princess Sophia was born, Gao Da expressed his love for his daughter. Not only did he take time every day to tease Princess Sophia, who was still in swaddling clothes, but he also specially created a new title for Princess Sophia: Duke of Arganda.

Arganda was a small city in the southeast of Madrid, with a population of only a few thousand. However, the scenery here was quite good, and Gao Da possessed a huge manor here, which was just right as a reward for Princess Sophia.

For his children, Gao Da was quite loving. Eldest son Juan Fernando was granted the title of Duke of Montblanc as soon as he was born, and eldest daughter Sophia also obtained the title of Duke of Arganda; both of them stood at the top of the Spanish noble class as soon as they were born.

This was not over yet; when both of them grew up, Gao Da would also bestow more rewards on them.

The assets of the Royal Family had long reached hundreds of millions of pesetas, and Gao Da would not be stingy with his children at all. Whether it was the eldest son and eldest daughter or other children in the future, as long as they grew up, they would obtain rewards of a large amount of property.

These rewards included not only some land, manors, and gold, jewelry, and antiques, but also shares of some enterprises, and even the complete control of some companies, etc.

The future heir to the throne would certainly inherit most of Gao Da's property, and for the remaining children, Gao Da would also ensure that they would have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of their lives, and even if they had no ability, they could live a prosperous life.

For the whole month after Princess Sophia was born, Gao Da would take time every day to accompany Wang Hou Sophia and Princess Sophia.

Although the infant mortality rate in this era was relatively high, at present, it seemed that whether it was eldest son Prince Juan Fernando or eldest daughter Princess Sophia, their bodies were relatively healthy.

Not long after Princess Sophia was full-month, time also came to Christmas 1876.

The palace was more lively this Christmas, and the Royal Family was growing at a rate of one person every year, which was definitely good news for the Spanish Royal Family.

The Royal Family now looked like it should. Gao Da, Wang Hou Sophia, Prince Juan Fernando, and Princess Sophia spent Christmas happily together; although Princess Sophia only watched for a while in her crib and then fell asleep, after all, it was a family of four staying together, which looked more lively and warm.

The news of Princess Sophia's birth ignited Spain again, but it did not cause a sensation like Prince Juan Fernando.

This was also normal; after all, Juan Fernando was Gao Da's eldest son and also the future heir to the Spanish throne, so it was normal to attract the attention of foreign governments and high-level officials.

And although Sophia's status was equally noble, after all, she was only a princess, and the only ones who sent congratulations were Italy, the Aodilizheng Prefecture, and a few countries with blood relations to Spain.

Compared with the birth of Spanish Princess Sophia, European countries were obviously more concerned about Wang Hou Victoria being crowned Empress of India.

As early as May 1876, the British side had already reached this fact, and Wang Hou Victoria officially became the Empress of India, possessing her own emperor title.

Becoming an emperor certainly required a coronation ceremony; because it was the imperial throne of India, the coronation ceremony could only be held in India.

The British were still worried about the problem of the Baerganbandao, but after waiting for several months, the Eguozheng Prefecture had no intention of going to war, letting the British completely put their hearts down.

The British government decided to hold Wang Hou Victoria's coronation ceremony in India on the first day of the new year, putting the crown of the Indian Empire on the Wang Hou of the United Kingdom.

Although the Indian throne was a bit self-entertaining, after all, the person who was self-entertaining was the ruler of the United Kingdom, Wang Hou Victoria, so various countries still had to give some face.

However, in the United Kingdom, the public obviously had two completely opposite attitudes toward this Indian crown.

A small picture book named "The Stain on the Wang Hou's Head" had a circulation of over 90,000 in a short time, and this small picture book attacked Prime Minister Disraeli in the form of comics, mocking him as a Jew with strong Orientalist thoughts.

In the comic, Disraeli, who appeared in the image of Aladdin, was instigating Wang Hou Victoria to accept the crown of the Empress of India.

The attitude of this picture book was also very clear, which was that it believed that Wang Hou Victoria did not need an extra empress crown, because the word empress easily reminded people of autocratic monarchism, not the constitutional monarchy system that the British government currently maintained.

Another small booklet also had such a conclusion, and the members of parliament and British public who supported such thoughts generally believed: the result of the crown and the bill would damage the principles of the British monarchy, and the Indian imperial title was a lie.

The title of Empress of India was imperial, was opposed to the British monarchy system, was an autocratic and arbitrary one, where personal rights were above the public, personal will could be put into law at any time, and it was an extremely wrong decision.

The opposition party even used the Wang Hou's ascension to the throne to oppose the ruling Conservative Party, believing that the Conservative Party completely ignored the public's needs and was stuck in the ghosts of its own political propaganda. Some extreme opponents even called the ruling Conservative Party a dictatorial party that advocated absolutism.

Even the famous British newspaper "The Times" expressed its opposition and criticism, believing that being crowned Empress of India was a manifestation of Wang Hou Victoria's arrogance and madness, abandoning the principles of the British Constitution.

John F. Dickinson publicly stated that the title bill was completely the damage of Wang Hou Victoria's personal will to the collective will, and the empress title legally determined the subordinate relationship of India to the United Kingdom, which would aggravate the contradiction between India and the United Kingdom.

At the same time, this would also legally determine that the British Empire was heading toward a new round of expansion, which was what most British people did not want to see. The personal demands caused by the bill being higher than public interests would destroy the British Empire.

He believed that the fewer and simpler the principles of British rule in India, the better the effect would be. The more prosperous the empire was, the more it should tighten its policies toward India.

The "New Crown, Old Wang Hou" comic also became a topic of heated discussion among the British government and the public, and the sensation caused even covered up the matter of Wang Hou Victoria being crowned Empress of India itself.

The reason why it caused a lot of opposition from officials and democrats was that the root cause was still the public's attention to the two words authority.

The British Empire possessed colonies far exceeding the scale of other countries, but the colonies and the British Empire were not completely submissive and loyal.

The United States was once a colony of the United Kingdom, but later chose independence. This also represented one thing, which was that the public in the colonies was not completely loyal to the British Empire, and they also had their own considerations for the British Empire.

In this case, whether Wang Hou Victoria being crowned Empress of India would cause dissatisfaction in multiple colonies including the Indian colony was a problem that some British officials and members of parliament needed to consider.

Was the authority of the British Empire and Wang Hou Victoria above the colonies? Did the British Empire have complete control over the colonies? Should it increase control over the colonies?

These questions were also the key to the discussion of the two major British political parties and a large number of members of parliament, and were also the reason for the sensation in the United Kingdom.

But obviously, these discussions alone could not shake Wang Hou Victoria herself.

From the fact that these opposing members of parliament could not stop the passage of the bill, it could be seen that Prime Minister Disraeli and Wang Hou Victoria were willing to see the British Empire control the Indian throne.

January 1, 1877, Wang Hou Victoria's coronation ceremony as Empress of India was officially held in India.

Although there were many voices of opposition in the country, the British government still attached great importance to this coronation ceremony.

Prime Minister Disraeli even went to the coronation scene in person, and the Indian colonial government also prepared a quite

Regardless of how the Indians reacted to Wang Hou Victoria's coronation, on the day of the ceremony, over one hundred thousand Indians enthusiastically celebrated, even shouting, "Long live Her Majesty the Empress!"

Wang Hou Victoria was more than satisfied with the lively scene prepared by the Indian colonial government. Being crowned Empress fulfilled a long-held wish, and the look she gave the Viceroy of India was one of considerable satisfaction and appreciation.

Gao Da did not place much importance on Wang Hou Victoria's coronation. For her, this imperial title was actually a stain, and having it added nothing to her status.

Without the Indian imperial title, Wang Hou Victoria was already one of the greatest monarchs in British history, having inaugurated the most glorious Victorian Era of the British Empire, which was also the golden age of the British Empire's global hegemony.

Fortunately, this stain was not too serious, nor would it affect Wang Hou Victoria's reputation within Britain.

Compared to Wang Hou Victoria's imperial title, Gao Da was more interested in the development of the situation in the Balkans.

The reason the British government felt at ease holding the coronation ceremony was precisely because Russia had not taken any major actions on the Balkan Peninsula.

The war on the Balkan Peninsula remained a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and several ethnic groups striving for independence, with Russia currently still in the stage of providing covert support.

Through telegraph exchanges with Franz Joseph I, Gao Da also confirmed one thing: Britain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire had underestimated Russia's ambition in this Balkan war.

The British Empire arrogantly believed that Russia would not launch a war against the Ottoman Empire while the British Empire was clearly supporting the Ottomans; this was also why Britain reduced its focus on the Balkan Peninsula.

After all, the Ottoman Empire had already gained the upper hand in the current war, and Serbia and Montenegro were clearly no match for the Ottoman Empire.

This was also the reason why, historically, Russia had crushed the Ottoman Empire and won the war after launching its offensive.

Because the British Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire had little preparation, they could only use diplomatic means after the war to threaten Russia into giving up a portion of its gains, ensuring they would not suffer too great a loss.

(End of chapter)