shadow of britain

Chapter 838 Even Chickens and Dogs Ascend to Heaven (Bonus Chapter for Alliance Leader)
The Duchess of Kent has always firmly believed that Victoria will succeed to the throne.

The reason for this actually involves a degree of mysticism.

When Victoria was just born, her husband, the Duke of Kent, disguised himself as a commoner and secretly took Victoria's birth date to a local Gypsy witch who was said to be very accurate in telling her fortune.

The wrinkled old gypsy woman glanced at the birth date, asked a few simple questions, and then, while stroking her crystal ball, declared with absolute certainty that the child's future was extraordinary and that he was destined to become a king.

Of course, if the old woman had only said a few auspicious words, the Duchess of Kent might not have taken them seriously.

The reason she believed it so readily was because the Duke of Kent told her after his return that the Gypsy witch had also predicted that a member of the royal family would die in the next month.

The couple initially thought the witch was referring to King George III, but little did they know that the Duke of Kent, who had never been sick in his life, would pass away before his father, George III, who himself died a few days later.

This story of being destined to be king spread widely in London, but whether it was true or not, no one except the people involved knew for sure.

Arthur felt that it couldn't be ruled out that this was a "fairy tale" specially fabricated by Kensington Palace to build momentum for Victoria's accession to the throne.

Therefore, as a natural philosophy researcher, Arthur, with a truth-seeking and pragmatic academic attitude, privately visited several Gypsy settlements in London and recalculated using various information from Victoria.

As for the result, it was barely satisfactory.

However, it's not necessarily because Victoria's birth date was particularly auspicious, but rather because the expressions of Officer Cowley and Officer Hught following behind this respectable gentleman were truly appalling.

As Sir Arthur Hastings' greatest invention, the Police Intelligence Service has well maintained the tone set by its first commander.

Although no one in the department ever said it outright, the officers were not blind. Since last year, every colleague who had any connection with Princess Victoria had been promoted and given important responsibilities.

Needless to say, the two police officers, Cowley and Hugh, who cracked the princess's major early romance case, did not receive a promotion for the time being because their ranks did not meet the seniority requirements. However, soon after, both of them were transferred to powerful departments and their futures looked bright.

Thomas Plunkett, who risked his life to protect Arthur at Ramsgate, was promoted to superintendent in the personnel reshuffle at the beginning of the year, and his position changed from captain of the Ghost Team to second-in-command of the Police Intelligence Bureau. His old comrades from the 95th Regiment who stormed into the Albion villa with him that day were all given the rank of inspector.

Moreover, not only Scotland Yard, but even Mr. Murphy, the sheriff of Ramsgate, profited greatly from it.

Oh, perhaps we shouldn't call him Mr. Murphy anymore; he was recently awarded the title of Knight Junior, so we should now call him Sir Colin Murphy.

However, a title may be prestigious, but it is ultimately just an empty title.

The practical aspect lies in the fact that, at the first meeting of the Police Commissioner's Committee held two days ago, Secretary General Sir Arthur Hastings proposed that, in order to help gradually establish a modern police system modeled after Scotland Yard across the country, pilot reforms should first be selected from some affluent areas. Among the first batch of pilot areas, in addition to emerging industrial cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, and Sheffield, there are also some tourist towns with large populations and relatively good economic development, such as Ramsgate in Kent.

Of course, considering that local autonomy is a long-standing British tradition, in order to prevent unnecessary backlash and protests at the local level, the appointment of local police chiefs will temporarily follow the local sheriffs elected by the city council. Whether they will continue to be employed after their terms end will depend on subsequent reform resolutions and the performance of security assessments during their terms.

In addition, Scotland Yard, as the most experienced modern police agency in Britain, should actively support local police reforms. It should select a group of capable, experienced, and responsible mature police officers and send them to newly established police stations in various places to serve as the backbone, so as to help local governments build a high-level police force as soon as possible.

Among the first batch of police officers selected by Scotland Yard for overseas assignments, the names of those officers who stormed into Albion Villa with Plunkett were clearly present.

Inspectors Hamilton, Moore, Biggs, and Wayne were reassigned as assistant chiefs of police in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, and Bristol, respectively.

This series of personnel changes has brought an unprecedented shock to Scotland Yard officers.

It's worth noting that before being transferred to the Police Intelligence Service, these four veterans were merely police chiefs in various peripheral districts of London.

After joining the Ghosts, although their income improved to some extent, few people thought they would have any future prospects.

As a result, in just one year, he was first promoted from police sergeant to police inspector, and then transferred from police inspector to assistant chief of local police stations, taking up one of the top positions in police stations in various cities.

Furthermore, it was once widely rumored within the department that Superintendent Thomas Plunkett, the leader of these individuals, was originally slated to become the first police chief of the newly established Liverpool Police Station. However, he declined the invitation because his wife and children were in London and he had just bought a house there.

Although the idea of ​​Plenkett going to Liverpool sounds very strange, because according to the provisional charter of the Police Commissioner's Committee, the local police chief is to be succeeded by the local sheriff, and Plenkett has no roots in Liverpool, so many people thought that this was just a bastard making things up.

It wasn't until someone remembered that Sir Arthur Hastings had dealt with a cholera outbreak in Liverpool in his early years that people began to suspect that Sir Arthur had used his influence to influence the Liverpool City Council.

Did Arthur really do the work for Plunkett?
Do you need to ask?
What exactly happened with the £100,000 urban development bond that the Treasury approved for Liverpool back then? Others might not know, but surely the construction contractors in Liverpool City Council knew?

Although Arthur wasn't the one who ultimately made the final decision, how could this have happened without his connections?
Moreover, now that Sir Arthur has become a member and secretary-general of the Police Commission, it wouldn't be a particularly remarkable thing for Liverpool's businessmen to do him a favor by appointing a sheriff, even if it's just out of respect for him.

But regardless of whether the matter was ultimately accomplished or not, Sir Arthur's ability in this matter alone was enough to make the officers of Scotland Yard envious.

As a British police officer, you can make all sorts of mistakes in your life, but you can never betray Sir Arthur Hastings.

As a policeman at Scotland Yard, all you have to do is do your job well and keep to yourself.

As for how to get promoted, and how to help you get promoted, that's something Sir Arthur has to consider.

Arthur and Chamberlain had just dismounted in front of Kensington Palace when they saw several plainclothes police officers in the distance remove their hats and salute them. Chamberlain assumed they were just Londoners passing by, but when he turned and saw Arthur's expression, he smiled and asked, "From Scotland Yard?"

"Not really." Arthur dusted himself off. "It's after get off work hours now."

Chamberlain didn't expose Arthur's lie, but simply tossed the riding crop to the servant behind him: "I've only ever seen this kind of treatment from the Duke of Wellington. I didn't believe it when they told me you were Wellington of Scotland Yard, but now it seems it's true."

After he finished speaking, he had someone knock on the door of Kensington Palace.

The servants at Kensington Palace were visibly surprised to see Lord Chamberlain arrive: "Your Excellency, you..."

But in an instant, he saw Arthur behind Chamberlain: "Sir Arthur?"

The servant looked rather embarrassed and awkward. He didn't dislike Arthur; in fact, he quite liked this gentle and refined knight who would occasionally crack a dry joke.

However, ever since the Kensington Palace entourage returned from Ramsgate, Conroy has ordered all palace staff to stay away from this charming young man.

Although Miss Flora Hastings argued her case forcefully and emphasized to Conroy that her cousin Arthur's actions at Albion Villa were not malicious, but rather, on the contrary, he was entirely acting in Her Highness's best interests. And this was proven true, as Victoria nearly lost her life to typhoid fever at Ramsgate.

At this moment, Mrs. Lezen took the initiative to stand up and support Flora, who had previously disliked her.

Conroy clearly hadn't expected the two women to stand together, and he even threatened to expel them both from the palace.

However, both Lyzen and Flora knew that Conroy was just bluffing.

Because any adjustment to the royal court requires the king's consent, let alone dismissing either of them, William IV would never agree to dismiss either of them.

Unfortunately, the Duchess of Kent ultimately sided with Conroy, demanding that everyone at Kensington Palace carry out Conroy's orders.

Therefore, although Flora and Lyzen remained in the court, Arthur became an unwelcome figure at Kensington Palace.

However, things aren't all that bad.

Victoria, who had been taciturn since returning from Ramsgate, had witnessed all of this. She was shocked to discover that Miss Flora Hastings, whom she had once loathed, was actually such a warm-hearted person.

In addition, Flora was Arthur's cousin, so gradually, Victoria actually began to regard her as the second person she could confide in within Kensington Palace.

She would occasionally ask Flora to relay messages to Arthur, asking her to bring back novels and curiosities recommended by Arthur from outside the palace. She would also exchange letters with Arthur through Flora.

During these extremely depressing days, seeing Arthur's letters filled with words of encouragement always brought Victoria great comfort.

What's even more commendable is that Arthur never wrote any grand principles in his books.

Instead, he would often tell her mysteriously that he had heard of an extremely powerful witch in London who said that Victoria was destined to be queen.

Or perhaps he took a portrait of Victoria to a physiognomy master for a reading. The master believed that Victoria's face initially appeared very sorrowful, but upon closer inspection, it exuded an inner and outer nobility. This indicated that Victoria would experience hardships in her early years, but after overcoming these hurdles, her future life would become increasingly smooth.

It's well known that girls are always fascinated by these mystical things, and Victoria was no exception.

However, she was shy about expressing her interest, especially not about directly telling Arthur that she actually wanted those masters to calculate her love fortune.

Victoria became even more eager to know when Arthur mentioned that his friend, Mr. Elder Carter, had recently become obsessed with using tarot cards to predict women's marriage prospects.

The servants had their own suspicions about Flora secretly passing letters between Arthur and Victoria, but they generally turned a blind eye to these little acts. This wasn't because they were negligent, but because after what happened at Albion Villa, almost everyone felt that Conroy had gone too far in this matter.

Moreover, as time went by and Victoria's coming of age approached, Conroy, who had almost no hope of becoming regent, was no longer as fearsome in everyone's eyes as before.

Compared to being hated by Conroy, the servants and ladies-in-waiting now certainly put Victoria's likes and dislikes first.

When the servant first saw Arthur, he felt a little embarrassed, but he did not stop him from entering Kensington Palace. Instead, he apologized and said, "Sir Arthur, please wait a moment. I need to inform the Duchess and Sir John Conroy."

Unexpectedly, before he could turn around, Lord Chamberlain stopped him: "There is no need to announce it. Sir Arthur and I are His Majesty's messengers. In Britain, no one can stop him from delivering His Majesty's decrees."

Upon hearing this, the attendant hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded and said, "Alright, then you two come with me."

Arthur and Chamberlain arrived at the drawing room, led by their servants. They had just sat down when they heard hurried footsteps outside the door.

The Duchess of Kent nodded to Chamberlain first, then turned her gaze to Arthur. However, instead of blaming him, she seemed somewhat embarrassed and apologetic: "Sir Arthur, it's been a long time."

(End of this chapter)