Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 234 Funeral and Meeting

Vittorio Emanuele II eventually passed away, but he left with a smile on his face, at least he had no regrets.

After the old king passed away, the Italian government immediately began to prepare for his funeral.

In fact, as early as when Vittorio Emanuele II was seriously ill, the government was secretly planning the old king's funeral.

But after all, people haven't left yet, and planning can only be carried out in secret. Some aspects still require a long time to perfect.

As the unifier of Italy, the funeral of Vittorio Emanuele II must be of extremely high standards. Crown Prince Umberto specifically ordered the government to prepare for his father's funeral with extremely high standards and not to save any budget in any aspect.

Fortunately, after unification, Italy is considered a wealthy country, and the northern region of Italy can provide a large amount of fiscal revenue to the Italian government every year.

It would be easy for the Italian government to even spend tens of millions of lire to prepare for the funeral of Vittorio Emanuele II.

And the cost of the funeral was far from that. The Italian lira and the Spanish peseta were worth about the same, and the currency of this era was still quite valuable.

According to the Italian government's estimates, even if the funeral of Vittorio Emanuele II was held at the highest level, the cost would definitely not exceed 500 million lire.

As soon as Vittorio Emanuele II died, the Italian government announced the news to the public and announced that the old king's funeral would be held a week later.

The Italian people are still reluctant to see the old king leave. Of course, this is for the people who originally belonged to the Kingdom of Sardinia.

As for the Italian people in other regions, they had been under Italian rule for less than ten years. How could they have developed love for King Vittorio Emanuele II in these ten years?
After the old king passed away, Crown Prince Umberto naturally inherited the throne of Italy and became the new king of Italy.

However, because the Italian government had to prepare for the old king's funeral, King Umberto's coronation ceremony was postponed for half a year.

But before the coronation, Umberto was already the official King of Italy. Because his father was the first King of Italy, King Umberto naturally became the first King of Italy named Umberto, that is, King Umberto I of Italy.

In fact, the old king Vittorio Emanuele II could have changed his title from "II" to "I" after the establishment of Italy, but in order to appease the emotions of the people of the Kingdom of Sardinia, the old king continued to use his title during the Sardinia period. This is why he was called Vittorio Emanuele II even though he was the founding monarch of Italy.

According to the Italian government's plan, Vittorio Emanuele II, the unifier of Italy and known as the father of the Italian nation, will be buried in the Pantheon in Rome, a magnificent palace with a history of nearly 2000 years.

The Pantheon in Rome was originally built in 27 BC and was rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian in 118 AD.

During the Roman Empire, the Pantheon was a temple dedicated to Roman gods. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Pantheon was converted into a Christian church.

Because there is a tradition of burying people in churches in Europe, many outstanding celebrities in history are buried here, such as the youngest of the three great masters of the Renaissance, the famous Italian painter Raffaello.

After the death of Vittorio Emanuele II, Carlo and his two brothers personally carried their father into the coffin that had been prepared.

The old king's coffin was a huge sarcophagus with a thick layer of charcoal at the bottom to prevent water and moisture.

A blanket with the Savoy coat of arms was spread on the charcoal, and the old king's body was wrapped in it. As the king of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II's burial objects were not luxurious.

Normal European monarchs like to keep a lot of jewels and gold coins, and they delusionally want to take these treasures to heaven with them.

But it is hard to say whether such greed can take them to heaven, and Vittorio Emanuele II obviously has no such idea.

Many of the old king's burial objects were just daily necessities, including the nightgown of his first wife, Carlo's mother, Archduchess Adelheide, the military cap of Carlo's elder brother, Prince Oddone, who died young, and the clothes of Carlo's two younger brothers, Princes Vittorio Emanuele, who also died young.

Apart from these, the only burial objects of the old king were a few books he loved to read and some old photos, nothing else.

From this we can also see that what the old king wanted after his death was not luxurious burial objects, but warmth and memories.

Although the price of each burial object is not high, for Vittorio Emanuele II himself, they are the most precious memories of his life.

A week later at eight o'clock in the morning, the Italian government officially held the funeral of Vittorio Emanuele II.

Although some Italians did not care about the king's death, many people who were fanatical about the unification of Italy came to Rome to attend the funeral of this great monarch.

At about 58:1820 in the morning, the bells of the churches in Rome rang 1878 times, representing the old king's life journey from 58 to .

The carriage carrying the old king's body slowly moved towards the Pantheon. Italian people along the way expressed their highest respect and endless blessings to the monarch of a unified country.

They hoped that this king with great achievements would go to heaven after his death, and that the old king's successor would be a friendly and people-friendly king.

Carlo and his two brothers rode their horses and followed the carriage. Also accompanying them were King Louis of Portugal and Napoleon Jerome Bonaparte, Count of Moncalieri. Because they were the old king's sons-in-law, they also joined the farewell convoy.

Three European kings personally escorted Vittorio Emanuele II to the Pantheon in Rome, which made the funeral even more grand.

In addition to King Carlo and King Louis, who personally carried the coffin, monarchs and important officials from many countries also attended the old king's funeral.

Italy is at least a second-tier power, and even the powerful countries cannot completely ignore Italy's existence.

The five traditional European powers all sent envoys, and the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I even sent Crown Prince Rudolf to attend the old king's funeral.

The funeral officially began when the old king's body arrived at the Pantheon.

The bishop first praised the achievements of Vittorio Emanuele II, praising him as a role model for all Christians who had spent his life serving Italy and the Italian people.

As the king who unified Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II has many achievements to be praised. At least the people's praise for him is true. Under his leadership, Italy completed its unification and officially became a country at the level of a great power.

After the bishop's praise, the Italian Prime Minister stepped forward and read a passage from the Gospel of John in the Bible at the funeral, wishing that the great king of Italy would soon enter heaven.

After this segment, the audience observed three minutes of silence.

As planned, from 11:35 to 38: noon, the bells of all the churches in Rome will ring, and everyone will observe three minutes of silence for the great king.

After the moment of silence, the state funeral officially ended.

The remains of Vittorio Emanuele II will be placed in the mausoleum of the Pantheon, and future generations can also come to the Pantheon to worship the old king.

Carlo attended the entire funeral, and when he returned to his residence, it was already evening.

Carlo was in a complicated mood when he stayed alone in the room. After Vittorio Emanueleo left, Carlo's connection with Italy would be completely cut off.

Although the current King of Italy is his brother, Carlo understands that the relationship between Spain and Italy will gradually become unfamiliar in the future.

Although Spain and Italy are still allies, this alliance is more for their own interests, and family ties become secondary.

But it's a good thing, Carlo can devote himself to the development of Spain. If there are any problems with the Italian royal family in the future, Carlo is willing to protect his brother's descendants.

Of course, it would be best if nothing went wrong. The rule of the House of Savoy could continue in Italy, which was exactly what Carlo's father, Vittorio Emanuele II, hoped for.

After the funeral, Umberto, who became king, became busy instead.

During the time when the old king was seriously ill, Umberto had been handling government affairs. After he officially became king, he would need to hand over the government affairs to the current cabinet. Even though he had been handling government affairs before, the power of the crown prince and the king was completely different. Carlo understood this, after all, if a king could not control the cabinet government, it meant that the king would lose power from then on.

In Italy, Carlo wanted to meet another person, Garibaldi, who also made outstanding contributions to the unification of Italy.

After the unification of Italy, Garibaldi faded from public view and lived in seclusion on the island of Caprera.

But after Vittorio Emanuele II fell seriously ill, he re-employed Garibaldi.

In this way, Garibaldi was elected as a senator in Rome and was personally received by Vittorio Emanuele II.

The two men reached a consensus on the situation in Italy. Neither Vittorio Emanuele II nor Garibaldi wanted to see Italy, which had been unified with great effort, fall into division again.

However, despite being elected as a senator, Garibaldi still spends most of his time on Caprera Island. This is mainly due to Garibaldi's deteriorating physical condition, which makes him less energetic than before.

After Vittorio Emanuele II fell seriously ill, Garibaldi also considered his own funeral arrangements.

However, because his two sons were far away in Spain, Garibaldi put more emotion on patriotism and constantly made his own suggestions on the decision-making of the government and parties.

According to historical experience, Garibaldi will not live long. Carlo still has great respect for this great Italian man.

What's more, both of Garibaldi's sons were loyal to Carlo. It was reasonable for Carlo to meet Garibaldi in person.

Unlike the ordinary Italian farmer Carlo met for the first time, when he met Garibaldi this time, he was obviously older and more decadent.

But it is normal to think about it. Garibaldi is 13 years older than Vittorio Emanuele II. He is now 70 years old, which is quite old.

The value of 70 years old in this era is comparable to that of 90 years old in later generations. After all, the average life expectancy is only or years old, and living a long life is absolutely rare.

Garibaldi was not surprised by Carlo's arrival because Carlo had sent someone to notify him in advance.

After all, Garibaldi was already a member of the Italian parliament and it was impossible for him to stay on Caprera all the time.

The reason why Carlo gave advance notice was to prevent himself from making a wasted trip.

Garibaldi felt a little emotional when he saw Carlo again.

When he first came into contact with Carlo, he was just an ordinary prince in Italy, only 16 years old.

But unexpectedly, Carlo successfully won the Spanish king election and became the new king of Spain. This is not the end. After becoming the King of Spain, Carlo regained certain power in various ways, and worked closely with Spanish Prime Minister Primo to make Spain stronger through reforms.

Although it was known long before that Carlo had certain ambitions and abilities, Garibaldi did not expect that Carlo was so outstanding and could secure his throne in a very short time.

"Long time no see, Your Majesty Carlo." Garibaldi spoke first with a smile.

"Long time no see, Mr. Garibaldi." Carlo also nodded and walked forward.

"Time flies! It's time for us old guys to meet God." Garibaldi said with some emotion.

"The country's development cannot do without heroes like you, and Italy's peace and stability still need you to maintain." Carlo replied.

Although Italy seems stable, there are some internal problems.

Currently, Italy can be divided into four parts. The Kingdom of Sardinia, which was originally under the rule of the House of Savoy, is the first part, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in the south is the second part, Rome, which was originally controlled by the Papal States, is the third part, and the various states in northern Italy are the fourth part.

Among these four regions, the problems are most serious in the states in northern Italy.

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in the south was a feudal autocratic country, and the Sicilians did not object to Italian rule.

After all, during the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, they suffered much more severe exploitation and oppression than during the Italian period.

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies had a relatively backward industry and economy. Although this was also due to the lack of mineral resources, the kingdom's despotism and corruption were also major factors.

Unlike the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the industries and economies of the states in northern Italy were relatively developed, and the residents here also developed more ideas and ideologies.

Republican ideas took root here, which also led to a large number of republican supporters in Italy. The biggest problem facing the Kingdom of Italy at present is that these republican supporters are trying to subvert the rule of the kingdom.

Fortunately, Garibaldi saw the danger that the republic brought to the unity of Italy. If the republicans in Italy were not restricted, they would definitely destroy the current unity of Italy.

The reason why Garibaldi was willing to support Vittorio Emanuele II's Kingdom of Sardinia was that he saw the added bonus that a monarchy would bring to unification.

The monarchy may not be the best for Italy, but it is the easiest to maintain stability for the newly unified Italy.

The reason why Vittorio Emanuele II re-employed Garibaldi after he became seriously ill was that he saw the threat that the republic brought to Italy.

It would be difficult for Crown Prince Umberto to fight against the Italian Republicans alone, but if Garibaldi was willing to contribute, it would not be difficult to suppress the Italian Republicans.

Garibaldi nodded after hearing Carlo's words.

The reason why he was willing to come out of seclusion after more than ten years was mainly because he saw the threat posed by the republic to the unification of Italy.

This is actually the same reason why Spanish Prime Minister Primo chose to continue the monarchy. Only the monarchy can maintain the unity of the country.

If Italy were to become a republic, it would surely split into several states. This was the last thing Garibaldi, who had single-handedly promoted the unification of Italy, wanted to see. He was also willing to continue cooperating with the House of Savoy for the unification of Italy.

"Fortunately, His Majesty Umberto is quite capable, and Italy's stability and peace can continue to be maintained." When Garibaldi talked about Umberto, he also expressed his affirmation of Umberto.

Umberto was the heir to the throne carefully cultivated by Vittorio Emanuele II, and his abilities were at least qualified.

At least during Umberto's reign, Italy will not have too many problems. But if Italy wants to completely solve the problems brought by the Republicans, it must pray that a truly capable and wise monarch will be born in Italy.

Thinking of this, Garibaldi couldn't help but look at Carlo, with a hint of regret in his expression.

In his opinion, Carlo's ability is higher than King Umberto's.

Moreover, Carlo is younger and can sit on the throne longer, so he has more time to solve the Italian problem.

But unfortunately, Carlo became the King of Spain very early and had no chance to rule Italy.

Garibaldi only hoped that King Umberto's son, Prince Vittorio Emanuele, could grow up to be an outstanding monarch like Carlo as soon as possible, or at least a qualified monarch like his father, King Umberto.

Only in this way can the Italian throne be passed on stably and the situation in Italy can be stable for a long time.

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(End of this chapter)