Coronation Ceremony

By late November 1869, the time had arrived for the coronation ceremony the Spanish government had prepared for King Carlo I.

Primo attached great importance to this coronation and invited the European great powers, including Britain, France, Prussia, Russia, Italy, and Austria, as well as long-established European monarchies such as Portugal, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

However, different nations held different attitudes toward the coronation of the King of Spain, and the status of the envoys they sent varied greatly as well.

Italy and Portugal were likely the ones that valued it most.

Italy was easy enough to understand. Carlo had been born into the Italian Royal Family and was the son of King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy, so it was only natural that Italy took the matter seriously.

As for Portugal, Carlo's sister, Princess Maria Pia, had married King Louis I of Portugal, making the two nations relatives by marriage.

Furthermore, as the only two countries on the Iberian Peninsula, Spain posed an enormous threat to Portugal.

The Portuguese Government wanted to use this ceremony to gauge the new King Carlo of Spain's attitude toward Portugal, so it could make suitable preparations.

Although most European nations had been invited to the coronation, its overall scale was not particularly grand. After all, the Spanish government did not have much funding to invest in the ceremony.

It was not that Primo did not value Carlo's coronation. But the Spanish government was currently supporting the colonial suppression war while carrying out all manner of reforms, and finding another large sum to hold a coronation was truly difficult.

Carlo did not care how grand his coronation was. Earning the recognition of the Spaniards was what mattered most; making it too lavish would instead have been a bad thing.

Through agricultural tax cuts and free Literacy Education, Carlo had accumulated a certain degree of prestige among the Spaniards.

At the very least, the Spaniards supported this coronation. Many of them had come to take part, making the scene look extraordinarily lively.

Under everyone's expectant gaze, a well-trained Royal Guard escorted several Carriages bearing the coat of arms of Spain's House of Savoy as they slowly headed toward Parliament.

Inside one of the Carriages, Carlo, dressed in magnificent attire, sat solemnly upright. Beside him, his palace butler Loren was reminding him of the coronation procedure.

"Your Majesty, please remember to keep smiling." Even in the second before Carlo stepped out of the carriage, Loren did not forget to remind him again.

Carlo nodded. The instant he stepped out of the carriage, the Spaniards gathered outside erupted into thunderous cheers.

Of course, those leading the cheers had certainly been arranged by the government beforehand. At a moment as important as this, it would have been impossible not to arrange a few people to stir up the crowd's emotions.

With a smile on his face, Carlo waved warmly at the cheering crowd, without the slightest air of a king.

Only then did the Spaniards clearly see what their king looked like: a young and handsome man, carrying himself in a manner completely different from Queen Isabella.

This is what our king should look like. Many Spaniards could not help but think so.

For those Spaniards who still supported the monarchy, what they longed for most was for Spain to produce a wise and mighty sovereign—preferably one who would also spare some concern for the plight of ordinary Spaniards.

Judging from Carlo's actions so far, he was still far from being a wise and mighty monarch, but when it came to caring about the common people, Carlo had indeed displayed an attitude different from Queen Isabella's.

In truth, it had to be admitted that making a living off one's face was useful in any era.

Not only did Carlo possess a handsome face, he was already over 1.8 meters tall and fairly strong-built.

Combined with the noble status of a king and the aura of being absurdly wealthy, he quickly won the favor of countless Spanish girls.

If there had been a media organization capable of ranking Spain's most popular men, Carlo would certainly have made the list. Taking first place would not have been difficult either.

Maintaining his gentle smile, Carlo waved to the crowd as he slowly walked into the Parliament Building.

Part of the guard remained around the Carriages, while the rest stood watch around the Parliament Building.

At the entrance to Parliament, Spanish Prime Minister Primo had long been craning his neck in anticipation. After giving Carlo a standard Spanish noble's salute, Primo led him into the Parliament Building.

In the Parliament hall on the first floor, Spain's nobles, Parliament's members, a small number of invited foreign guests, and several religious figures had already been waiting for quite some time.

The one who would crown Carlo was Spain's chief Archbishop, Archbishop Pedro of Toledo.

It had been a European tradition since ancient times for a bishop to crown a king, and before Napoleon, it had almost been the unspoken rule.

The rank and status of the bishop crowning a sovereign seemed, in some unseen way, to determine the legitimacy of the crowned monarch.

Therefore, whether to strengthen his legitimacy in the eyes of the people or to reassure Spain's tangled web of religious forces, Carlo needed an Archbishop of sufficiently high status to crown him.

In fact, the best choice would have been Pope Pius IX. But the Pope had just been driven out of Rome by the Italian government, his vast Papal States reduced to the tiny Vatican. How could he possibly crown Carlo, who also belonged to the House of Savoy?

Although force could have been used to threaten Pius IX into coming to Madrid to crown him, that might have backfired, stirring dissatisfaction among Spain's Catholic people.

It was better to have Spain's chief Archbishop perform the coronation. Archbishop Pedro of Toledo's standing in Spain was already more than sufficient.

"His Majesty Carlo, are you willing to devote your entire life to Spain?" Archbishop Pedro asked solemnly, holding the crown that represented the King of Spain.

"I am."

Archbishop Pedro nodded and declared solemnly, "On behalf of God, I bestow upon you the crown of Spain. May you treat your people with compassion and remain loyal to your country."

After the lengthy and cumbersome coronation procedure, Archbishop Pedro of Toledo finally placed the crown representing the Spanish throne upon Carlo's head before everyone's eyes.

Wearing the crown of Spain and holding the scepter symbolizing royal authority, Carlo swept his gaze over Spain's nobles and members of Parliament. His heart surged with towering ambition, his spirit high and soaring.

"Greetings, Your Majesty the King."

Seeing that the time was ripe, Primo took the lead in giving Carlo a noble's salute.

"Your Majesty the King!"

In perfect unison, Spain's members of Parliament and nobles, including Archbishop Pedro of Toledo, lowered their heads before Spain's new king.

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