Although the possibility of war breaking out in Europe at this time was very small, neither the cabinet government nor Arthur dared to bet on that possibility.

Judging the current situation and preparing in advance is the first thing Australasia needs to do.

However, in terms of national interests, Arthur did not want to start a war now.

After all, if World War I broke out, countries would naturally impose certain restrictions on the number of people leaving the country. At that time, it may not be easy for Australasia to absorb more immigrants.

In other words, the number of immigrants in Australasia must have decreased significantly as the war was about to start and when the war began.

There is no way to do this, after all, there are many civilians who do not want war. If it was in a time of war, there would certainly be a lot of immigrants who chose to go abroad.

But if these migrants are allowed to leave the country, there is a risk that they will lose more people. This is very bad for a country that is at war, so it must be extinguished at the source.

As the king of the most powerful country in the world today, the grandeur of Edward VII's funeral is absolutely unimaginable.

In fact, if Arthur remembers correctly, the funeral of Edward VII in history was attended by nine European emperors, five crown princes, more than 40 royal nobles, seven queens and many nobles, and it was the largest royal gathering in history.

This was almost the pinnacle of aristocratic gatherings, and after the First World War, the monarchy had suffered a great weakening, the power and status of the nobility of various countries had also been weakened, and the monarchy and aristocracy had gradually left the political scene of most countries.

For such a grand gathering of nobles, Arthur must participate. Of course, as a member of the British royal family, Arthur had to participate in the funeral of Edward VII.

After all, Arthur is the nephew of Edward VII and the grandson of Queen Victoria.

After arranging the royal affairs and then instructing the government, Arthur took Prime Minister Walter and Foreign Secretary Andrew and a group of diplomatic visitors to London on the battleship Australasia.

Of course, the accompanying warships are not limited to these. The other two battleships were all followed, and there were also more than a dozen frigates and a large supply fleet.

While doing so would void the Australasian coast, Arthur believed that no country would land on Australasian shores at this time.

The only countries that have the ability to do so now may be the island countries and the United States. But both countries are quite far away, and neither country has the courage to provoke the major European powers.

This time, he brought three battleships, one is to show the outside world the current naval strength of Australasia, and the other is to show his ship-building ability, to see if he can get some orders for battleships from the major European powers and monarchies.

You know, a battleship can bring Arthur a net profit of nearly 1.4 million Australian dollars, and the order of two foreign battleships is enough for Arthur to build another battleship.

Such a good deal, even Arthur, who is not short of funds at all, thinks it is necessary to fight for it.

At present, the competition in the construction of ships in European countries is relatively fierce, and many countries want to have dreadnoughts, but they do not have the ability to build them.

And the countries in Europe that have the ability to build are basically busy building their own dreadnoughts.

This also leads to the current hope that Australasia will get some orders for dreadnoughts from Europe, which is why Arthur brought the foreign minister with him this time.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is quite eloquent, and maybe it can rely on them to get an order for a few more dreadnoughts, which will be beneficial to both the royal family and the government.

You must know that the only countries that really have dreadnoughts at present are the British Empire, the German Empire, the Tsarist Empire and the Kingdom of Australasia.

Under construction or already planned, Italy and the United States can be added.

At present, the only countries that really have the ability to export dreadnoughts to foreign countries are the British Empire, the German Empire and Australasia.

But the naval rivalry between the British Empire and the German Empire was so fierce that neither side had time to build dreadnoughts for themselves, let alone find time to build them for other countries.

While a dreadnought can make them hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds, these profits are insignificant in the face of national competition.

On Arthur's journey to London, the British government had officially informed the rest of the world, and presumably the political scene had stabilized initially.

Of course, although Edward VII died on May 6, the funeral was scheduled for mid-June, in order to prepare enough time for the major countries to travel to London for the funeral.

Especially in a country like Australasia, which is far enough away from the United Kingdom, Arthur's identity is still very important, so the funeral can only be postponed for a few days.

Fortunately, it was the fastest dreadnought at the moment, and it only took more than 20 days to travel from Australasia to London.

If it had been an old battleship or warship, it would have been impossible to reach London in less than a month.

Of course, if you are on a battle cruiser that is currently under construction, I am afraid that this time can be advanced by a few days.

It's a pity that the construction of battlecruisers will take a long time, and the really equipped navy will probably have to wait until the end of next year.

In early June, the Australasian fleet officially arrived in the port of London.

At this time, the atmosphere in London was already very solemn, and the laughter of the people on the streets of England was much less, which was enough to see that Edward VII was still quite recognized by the British.

Someone like Arthur who was farther away was about the latest to come.

Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, etc., which are relatively close, have basically arrived in May.

It's just that King Carlos I of Portugal didn't look at Arthur so kindly, after all, Australasia had just taken Portuguese Timor from Portugal and made it his new colony.

Of course, inter-state interests were not what made Carlos truly hostile to Arthur. Mainly because Arthur manipulated the public opinion of the whole of Europe at that time, making Carlos a clown in Europe, and even ridiculed by many European aristocrats.

It is no wonder that Carlos hates Arthur so much in the form of a monarch and majesty.

Arthur couldn't help but feel a little funny, Carlos I didn't care about his hatred of Arthur, after all, Portugal was only a third-rate country in Europe after all, and its influence was not even comparable to the current Australasia.

What's more, if there was no Arthur's influence on the situation in Portugal, perhaps Carlos I would have been assassinated along with his crown prince as in history, and the current king of Portugal might have become Manuel II, and the Portuguese royal family might have been close to extinction.

Queen Victoria is known as the grandmother of European royal families, and Edward, as the eldest son of Queen Victoria, naturally became the eldest uncle of European royal families.

Of course, this is not just talk. Edward VII's prestige in European royalty was still quite high, and his funeral also attracted the participation of most European monarchies and royal families.

Although Carlos I was more hostile to Arthur, on English soil, Manuel could only pretend to be his grandson.

What's more, on Arthur's side, William II and Arthur talked and laughed, which was enough to see the relationship between William II and Arthur.

After all, there were so many European royals and nobles present, and William II chose to stay by Arthur's side, which is enough to see that he and Arthur have the best relationship.

At such a juncture, if Carlos I went to look for trouble, I am afraid that it would really be a bad brain.

It is worth mentioning that this funeral Nicholas II did not attend. It is not that Nicholas II had any opinion about Edward VII, Russia and England had already reached a compromise and formed the Triple Entente together with France, so it was naturally impossible not to give face to Britain at such a juncture.

It's just that Nicholas II's son, Crown Prince Alexei, suffered from hemophilia and had a seizure some time ago, so Nicholas II had to stay with his son and could not come to this funeral.

Hemophilia is also a taboo for European royal families. Even many European people call it royal disease, after all, many members of European royal families suffer from this disease.

In fact, the birth of hemophilia should theoretically be attributed to the tradition of inbreeding of European royal families.

And the current source of royal hemophilia in Europe should be Queen Victoria.

A significant number of Queen Victoria's children suffered from haemophilia and entered the royal families of other countries with marriages with other countries.

However, the good news is that neither Arthur nor the old Duke Arthur have hemophilia, which is also the reason why the old Duke Arthur lived quite long in history.

And the hemophilia of the Russian Crown Prince Alexei, it seems, was cured by a pseudo-mystic.

However, Arthur didn't know much about it, and Arthur couldn't do anything for the time being anyway, so he might as well care about the interests and things in front of him.

In mid-June, Edward VII's farewell ceremony officially began.

The scale, grade and number of participants in the farewell ceremony set a new world record.

Of course, there is no such thing as a world record in this era, but all kinds of news and various records remember this event.

A total of ten kings rode horses and followed the hearse, and hundreds of thousands of English people saw off Edward VII.

Arthur was among the ten, and was still at the top of the list.

Although Australasia's strength was not enough to make him among the top ten emperors, Arthur was born in the British royal family, so his relationship was naturally closer, and he gained the power to be at the forefront.

On the surface, Arthur was saddened by the death of Edward VII. After all, the relationship with the British government and the British people still needs to be maintained, anyway, as a qualified monarch, the disguise that should be there is indispensable.

Judging by the reaction of the British public, Arthur's disguise was still very successful. Many British people also remembered Queen Victoria's instructions to Arthur when she died, and a large number of British media praised Arthur as a great monarch who valued blood relations, loved relatives, loved family, and loved the charity of his people.

All sorts of words of praise were used by the British press to cover Arthur's news, which were then printed and sold throughout the British Empire.

It can't be helped, praising Arthur at this time has become a kind of political correctness. After all, the British people are very satisfied with Arthur, if the newspaper and the media are in opposition, then do they want the market and sales?

It is precisely because of the exaggerated praise of Arthur by more media and newspapers that many unknown British people love Arthur even more.

This increased Arthur's support and goodwill in the UK, allowing Arthur to show his face in front of the British people again.

Arthur was also worried that with the end of the Victorian era, the British people might gradually forget about him.

Unexpectedly, with this accident, the British people liked him even more, and even many British people spontaneously went to the grave and assassination site of the old Duke Arthur to remember the beloved son of Queen Victoria and the benevolent duke of the British Empire.

3400 words for the third update, ask for support, ask for a monthly pass!

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(End of chapter)