The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1553 International Industrial Expo (Part )
In private, Victoria and Olga did not pay much attention to the International Industrial Exhibition, but talked more about clothing, family and children.

In fact, Victoria and Prince Albert wanted to talk more about business, but Olga obviously didn't know anything about the gold mine.

Although they didn't ask directly, they had already understood the purpose of Olga's trip from the fragments of conversation - just to relax.

According to etiquette, the two sides exchanged gifts at the end. There was not much intrigue in the gifts from both sides. They were just some exquisite and vulgar objects without any profound meaning.

Olga was not good at it, and Franz did not want to train her to be a politician.

Olga also understands that she has no talent in this area, so she avoids some political topics and only talks about what she likes.

Given Olga's status, no one could force her to answer certain specific questions. In addition, the maids around Olga were also her advisors, and it would not be easy for anyone to trick Her Majesty the Queen.

Victoria and Prince Albert were not very fond of being lobbyists for the British government. Instead, they were somewhat envious after Olga left.

"Those congressmen always shout about freedom and ask us to be lobbyists. What do they think we are?"

Victoria complained, and Prince Albert, as a man, felt it even more obviously.

"An emotionless stamping machine, a fig leaf that won't complain."

This was not said by Prince Albert, but was described by a British MP in his memoirs.

Victoria was somewhat surprised by Prince Albert's performance, because in her eyes, although Albert always complained about the stupidity of the British government, he generally stood on the side of the British government.

"There's nothing to be surprised about. I'm your husband and it's only natural for me to stand by you."

After saying that, the two of them hugged and kissed each other, and they didn't stop until they were satisfied.

“It seems that the Austrian Empire paid very little attention to this International Industrial Exposition, or they did not realize the importance of this event.

The Austrians made a fatal mistake! ”

John Russell spoke very excitedly in Whitehall, but not many people were infected by his emotions. Many people fell into deep thought, and some even felt that their dignity was insulted.

It's like you try your best to make a big news to scare the other person, but the other person doesn't even look at it and just gives a very perfunctory answer of "Oh".

The British government was frustrated by the Austrian Empire's performance, and they had expected the other side to react more violently.

Back to the opening ceremony itself, nearly 23,500 people were invited, of which 1,200 tickets were given to royal families of various countries and famous European nobles, and 3,500 tickets were given to diplomatic envoys from various countries and representatives of participating countries.

France accounted for a quarter of this, on the one hand due to its strength, and on the other hand it was a deliberate arrangement by the British. After all, France was an important ally of Britain at that time.

Similarly, Portugal, the Ottoman Empire and Prussia also received a large number of invitations. Even Belgium, which was almost destroyed, received nearly a hundred invitations, while the entire German Confederation only received five hundred invitations.

Most of the remaining invitations were divided up among British colonies. It is worth mentioning that the Russian government directly rejected the British invitation as a response to Britain's support for the Ottoman Empire.

Not only did the Russian royal family and the Russian government not send anyone, but there were also very few Russian exhibitors. This brings us to some rumors about Tsar Nicholas I, who was said to have ordered a comprehensive review of every Russian who participated in the International Industrial Exposition.

Russia's political review is no joke and is enough to make people terrified no matter what era it is.

Continuing to introduce the whereabouts of the invitation letters, about two thousand of them were digested internally by the British government. There is actually nothing much to say about this. After all, it is a domestic event, and it is reasonable for their own people to go and show their support.

In addition to government officials, local celebrities were also the focus of care. About 5,000 invitation letters were sent to all walks of life in London, and they were the group that received the most invitation letters besides exhibitors from various countries.

About 800 invitations were also sent to religious leaders and academic authorities, which was just a routine matter.

As for the last 70 invitations allocated to exhibitors, British businessmen and companies accounted for more than %. If we add those colonial enterprises, it is not an exaggeration to say that it was a British Industrial Expo.

In addition, more than 3,000 tickets were sold to the public for the opening ceremony of the International Industrial Exposition.

Although tickets for the opening ceremony only cost one pound, it successfully kept ordinary people out.

For the upper class, one pound might be just the price of a dinner, but for the common people at that time it was 2400 pounds of potatoes, or 4000 pounds of coal.

A female worker must work more than 14 hours a day for five weeks to get one pound. If a child worker is employed, the salary will be doubled.
It is unlikely that ordinary people would spend a month's salary to watch an opening ceremony, but it was another rule that completely separated the opening ceremony of the International Industrial Exposition from the common people.

Everyone attending the opening ceremony must dress appropriately, but what exactly does appropriateness mean?
no one knows.

British trade union leaders once wanted to make a big news at the International Industrial Exposition, but in reality they could not afford to pay for the large number of workers to enter.

If the number of people is small, it will be like a drop in the bucket. Not only will it fail to shock the British government, but they will be arrested as troublemakers.

At this point, everything about industry is there, except for the workers themselves.

All the guests have arrived, only Victoria and her husband have not arrived yet.

However, everyone did not have to wait too long. With a salute, the Queen and her husband's carriage slowly drove into the venue.

Victoria was wearing a white long dress and a diamond crown on her head, she was dazzling.

In fact, all the guests, especially women, were asked not to wear white clothes to avoid wearing the same clothes as the Queen. That was why Victoria looked so dazzling at this time.

It's just that women's clothing has changed during this time and space, especially in color. The clothes designed by Madame Sophie are colorful, which is mainly due to the development of chemical technology in the Austrian Empire.

So Olga's purple dress was equally eye-catching. Generally speaking, nobles and royal families of various countries avoid purple, after all, it was once a color exclusive to the Byzantine royal family.

However, as a member of the Romanov family, Olga herself has the blood of the Byzantine royal family. Moreover, she has a father who always talks about reviving the Third Rome. Olga wearing a purple dress will not cause any criticism.

In addition, another reason why purple long skirts were rare at that time was because of their exaggerated price. The price of murex purple was enough to make the average wealthy family go bankrupt.

(14000-20000 murex can only produce 1 gram of murex purple.)
The murex purple that can dye a long skirt is enough to buy a warship, so Olga's skirt is bound to attract attention.