Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 179 The Birth of the Eldest Son
As time came to the end of May 1875, one of the most important events in Carlo's life finally arrived.

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

When Queen Sophie felt unwell, Carlo nervously called the palace doctor who was on call at all times, as well as many maids who were waiting for instructions.

Sure enough, after the female 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 coming in and out to carry out preparations under the doctor's instructions.

Fortunately, the room where Queen Sophie was preparing to give birth was very large. Carlo accompanied Queen Sophie. There were many serious-looking doctors standing by the bed, and behind them were busy servants.

Although the doctor advised Carlo to wait outside the house, Carlo decided to accompany Queen Sophie throughout the entire delivery process.

This is not only a very dangerous thing, but also will bring extreme pain to Queen Sophie. In the era without caesarean section, giving birth can rely on natural delivery.

Long before the delivery began, Carlo had repeatedly told the doctor that if there were any problems during the entire process, he should not hesitate to give priority to protecting Queen Sophie's safety.

Carlo was still young and not yet completely childless. For Carlo, Queen Sophie was more important than the unborn child.

Whether it is a boy or a girl, before he came into this world, there were only two people in the Spanish royal family, namely Carlo and Queen Sophie.

Perhaps it was Carlo's personal presence that provided some encouragement, or perhaps it was because Queen Sophie's body was very healthy under the careful care of the royal family. In short, the entire delivery process was quite smooth.

On May 1875, 5, with a cry, Carlo welcomed his first child, his eldest son Juan Fernando.

"Carlo, this is our child." Queen Sophie was exhausted after going through the entire delivery process, but she still forced herself to see her child. She looked at Carlo with joy and pride, and a gentle smile on her face.

"Yes, it's our child. Thank you for your hard work, Sophie. You are a great mother." Carlo nodded, carefully pushed the hair on Queen Sophie's forehead behind her ears, kissed her forehead gently, then took the child from the maid Anna's arms and came close to Queen Sophie again.

The mischievous Anna looked at the harmonious and friendly royal family with some envy at this moment. There was a hint of regret in her eyes, but then it immediately disappeared.

Her background is completely different from that of Queen Sophie, and she is just Carlo's maid. Although she has a special relationship with Carlo, it is obvious that their relationship cannot be made public.

This also means that it is difficult for Anna to give birth to children for Carlo. Even if there are children, they will only be illegitimate children and will not have a legitimate status.

But for the two maids, Anna and Alice, they are already very satisfied with their current status. This is not a peaceful and beautiful era, and the experience of beautiful girls is not so romantic.

Beautiful women can attract high-ranking officials and nobles with their beauty, but they can never become their wives.

Because European nobles value matching. If nobles marry a commoner, their children will lose the right to inherit the title.

Although they will not obtain any status in the future, the lovers of the King of Spain are always much better than those of ordinary capitalists and aristocrats.

At least Carlo was nice to them, and Queen Sophie didn't pay too much attention to Carlo's lover.

Even when Queen Sophie knew that Anna and Alice had an unusual relationship with Carlo, she still allowed Anna and Alice to continue serving as Carlo and her personal maids, which was already a blatant indulgence.

Carlo did not intend to hide anything about the birth of his eldest son. That evening, telegrams were sent to various European countries in an open form, and the first ones sent were to Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Italy and Austria-Hungary also quickly responded. Vittorio Emanuele II happily congratulated Carlo on the birth of his eldest son and said that he would grant Carlo's eldest son the title of Count of Genoa, Italy.

Franz Joseph I's reply was also very quick. Since Carlo had mentioned that Queen Sophie was in good health, Franz Joseph I was relieved and said that he would visit Spain with some officials of the Austro-Hungarian government this year.

Franz Joseph I's visit to Spain was nominally to visit his daughter and eldest grandson, but its actual meaning was naturally more than that.

The main reason is that Spain’s strength has recovered, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire naturally attaches more importance to Spain as an ally.

The most important reason is that there is no conflict of interest between Spain and Austria-Hungary, which makes the alliance relationship between the two countries stable and has the hope of being maintained for a long time.

In addition to the little guy's grandfather and grandfather, a large number of kings in the European royal family who are related to Carlo have sent congratulatory messages to Spain. Only with an heir to the throne will Spain become truly stable and its national strength will be truly strong.

The status of a king without an heir is not so stable, because once an accident happens, the inheritance of the throne will face many problems.

Accidents were not uncommon in Europe during this era, and especially after the development of rifle technology, there were more ways for kings to be assassinated.

One of the reasons why Carlo continued to build a reputation for himself in Spain was that he did not want to be assassinated by the Spanish people all day long.

This is no joke. In history, Prime Minister Primo died in an assassination attempt, which made the Spanish Savoy Dynasty a joke in history, a joke that only lasted a few years before being forced to give up.

On the day when Prince Juan Fernando was born, many factories outside Madrid were brightly lit. Many of them were printing houses, which had close cooperation with various newspapers and needed to urgently print news about the birth of the eldest son of the royal family in a short period of time and transport it to major cities around Madrid for sale the next day.

Don't underestimate the popularity of the royal family in Spain, especially things related to Carlo. Unlike other European countries, Spain's founding history is closely related to Catholicism, and Catholicism is closely related to the monarchy.

The people have a special affection for the king, especially when most of the people in the country are conservative farmers, the people's support for the king is very high.

Against the backdrop of Spain's prosperity brought about by the reforms of Carlo and Prime Minister Primo, Carlo naturally received such preferential treatment.

In particular, with the powerful propaganda power of public opinion, the Spanish people were very fond of Carlo, the foreign king, and even affectionately called him "the savior sent by God."

This has something to do with Carlo's Italian origins. The center of Catholicism is the Vatican, which is located in Italy.

As an Italian, it is not surprising that Carlo was promoted and deified as the savior sent by God.

Although the truth is that Italy has always wanted to retake the Vatican, but was forced to give up due to pressure from Catholics, who among the civilians cares about this?
They would rather believe that Carlo is the Spanish savior sent by God to save the Spaniards who have been oppressed by the evil Bourbon family for hundreds of years.

Even if someone doesn't believe it at first, but the newspaper says so, and relatives and friends around them also say so, they will naturally believe it under the subtle influence.

It is precisely because of this kind of publicity that Carlo has become extremely popular in Spain. Although most people's attitude towards Carlo is not to the level of die-hard fans, at least a considerable number of people still have a good impression of Carlo.

In this monarchy, having a favorable impression means being loyal to the king. As long as Carlo does not personally issue any tyranny, the public's support for the king will not decrease too much.

It can only be said that this is the characteristic of this era. Although the technology is relatively backward, it also leads to the ignorance of these people.

As long as there is some public opinion propaganda to help, Carlo's impression in most people's minds can become extremely good, or even become a very positive and great image.

As more people follow suit, the impact of such publicity will become better and better, and will also give Carlo a higher status and influence in the hearts of Spaniards.

For Carlo, this is of course good news. However, it also represents the power of public opinion, and Carlo must master the power of public opinion.

As long as he can control the power of public opinion, Carlo's throne is not afraid of anyone's provocation. The power of public opinion can not only unite the people of the whole country into a rope, but also make Carlo the controller of this rope. Although personality cult has many disadvantages, for Spain at this time, perhaps personality cult is the fastest way to improve the country's comprehensive strength and enhance national cohesion.

It goes without saying that a Spain that is united and marches forward under Carlo's command will definitely be stronger than a Spain with fierce factional struggles and constant quarrels between the monarchy and the republic.

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

It is said that the newspaper is rushing to produce news about the eldest son of the royal family.

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

But these are no longer important. Whoever can be the first to publish the newspaper will definitely be able to grab the top spot in newspaper sales the next day.

They can even take advantage of such opportunities to seize a large portion of the newspaper market and increase the influence and visibility of the newspaper.

There are also alternative newspapers, such as the Spanish Sun and the Spanish National Daily, which are owned by the royal family.

These two newspapers were also rushing to print the big news about 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 the time of his birth and that he had been awarded the title of Count of Genoa, Italy.

It is not surprising that Carlo's eldest son was awarded the title of Count of Italy. After all, Carlo is also an Italian prince. The royal families of the two countries are related by blood, and the kings of the two countries are father and son with flesh and blood.

But this also proves that King Vittorio Emanuele of Italy attaches great importance to this child. After all, European kings rarely grant titles to princes of other countries.

Carlo's title of Duke of Chablais was obtained before he became the King of Spain, so it cannot be counted. However, Carlo's eldest son Juan Fernando was already the first heir to the Spanish throne, and also the first heir to the Duke of Chablais. Under such circumstances, he was still able to obtain the title of Count of Genoa, which shows how much Vittorio Emanuele II valued him.

To the regret of several newspaper editors, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not seem to grant the title to the newly born prince of Spain.

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

Fortunately, their regret did not last long. Not long after, Carlo made another important decision, which was to grant his eldest son Juan Fernando the title of Duke of Monteblanque.

The Duke of Montblanc is relatively special in the Spanish aristocracy system, of course this is true for the Catalonia region.

When Catalonia existed as a sovereign state, the title of Duke of Montblanc was equivalent to the Crown Prince of Catalonia.

Of course, at that time Catalonia was just an ordinary region in Spain, and the Duke of Montblanc was just an ordinary dukedom.

For Spain, the noble title with the same symbolic meaning of crown prince as the Prince of Wales in the UK is Prince of Asturias.

However, Carlo had already decided not to strictly follow the primogeniture system.

If the eldest son's ability is not up to standard, the future King of Spain will be chosen from among his other children with better abilities.

But if the eldest son's ability is still qualified, Carlo does not intend to cause any more trouble. To judge whether a prince's ability is qualified, he needs to undergo a certain degree of test.

Carlo has already set the tests that Juan Fernando needs to go through in the future. Not only does he need to receive a very strict elite aristocratic education since childhood, he also needs to enter a military academy at the age of 16 and become an ordinary officer after graduation.

Only after at least three years of military training would Carlo gradually let him get involved in government affairs and exercise his political abilities.

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

But if the performance is not good after being involved in government affairs and there is no potential for improvement, Carlo will consider replacing him with someone more capable.

Of course, this was a long time ago. Carlo also believed that his child was not a mediocre person and would at least grow up to be a qualified monarch under his training.

Given Carlo's age, his reign would basically cover both World War I and World War II.

This also means that his son only needs to develop the country step by step and does not need to face the cruel world war.

To a certain extent, this has lowered the requirements for the heir to the throne. After all, world wars are unpredictable and can easily plunge a country that has developed with great difficulty into the abyss.

If he did not have sufficient ability, Carlo would not want to see his son go through a world war as a national ruler, which would most likely make him the one to take the blame in the end.

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

What was the final result? Hindenburg became the president of Germany, and William II, who had been sidelined in the late stages of the war, was deposed.

After a night of expedited printing, the news that Carlo had given birth to his first son spread throughout the streets of Spain the next day.

Of course, the main point of spread is still around Madrid. It will take longer to spread to other parts of Spain.

These newspapers basically made the right bet, because the public was very concerned about the birth of Carlo's eldest son. The sales of newspapers on this day were several times that of the day before, and those newspapers that decided to print newspapers urgently made a lot of money.

The ones that made the most money were naturally the Sun and El País. They not only reported the birth of Carlo's eldest son step by step, but also revealed that Carlo's eldest son's name was Juan Fernando.

Of course, this can only be revealed with Carlo's permission. Spain currently has strict control over media organizations. If Carlo doesn't want to, it's difficult for news about the royal family to appear in newspapers, let alone newspapers like El Sol and El País that are controlled by the royal family.

Of course, newspapers can report news about the royal family or even false news in order to attract attention, but the price they pay will be more serious than the benefits they gain.

There were some brave people who tried it before, but in the end they not only faced a fine of tens of thousands of pesetas, but all the senior executives of the newspaper were also thrown into jail.

Prime Minister Primo also supports the royal family's strengthening of control over public opinion. After all, the royal family is mainly responsible for newspaper reports about the royal family. On this point, Prime Minister Primo maintains the same attitude as Carlo, that is, reports about the royal family should try to report useful news.

If there is a deliberate attempt to discredit the royal family, it will undermine the existing monarchy system in Spain. If the monarchy system in Spain collapses, the stable development situation that Spain has worked so hard to maintain will be lost.

Prime Minister Primo has a clear view of the situation. For Spain at present, the importance of the king has increased infinitely.

If Spain became a republic, those dormant nationalists would surely rise up again and seek their own independence.

Without the title of King of Spain, which is the legal authority to integrate all the regions of Spain, how can the Spanish government integrate all the regions? Is it just by words? Of course not.

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(End of this chapter)