The Queen's Decision

"I know, Arthur. I approve of you going out, but not now." Queen Victoria was silent for a long time before she nodded with difficulty and spoke.

"Thank you, Grandmother." Hearing this, Arthur finally breathed a sigh of relief, looking at Queen Victoria with gratitude.

"When the matters of this period are dealt with, I will accompany you to Australia for a look!" Queen Victoria suddenly spoke, but the words she said were startling.

"You are going to Australia?" Arthur was stunned for a moment, then immediately thought of how Queen Victoria had made a mighty trip to the small island of the Isle of Wight in northern New Zealand at the end of 1900, solely to reminisce about the good times spent with Prince Albert and her children at the final moment of her life.

"Yes." Queen Victoria seemed to fall into fond memories, taking a long time to snap back to her senses before looking at Arthur with a smile and saying, "At that time, Grandmother can also accompany Arthur for a while longer, as we might never see each other again in the future."

Hearing Queen Victoria say this, the tip of Arthur's nose instantly grew sore, and his eye sockets seemed to well up with hot tears, but Arthur forcefully held them back.

"No, you won't, Grandmother. You can still accompany Arthur for a long time; Grandmother must live to be at least a hundred." Arthur hurriedly said.

In fact, when Queen Victoria went to Isle of Wight, she had already clearly learned of her own physical condition, yet she still chose to travel through hardship to remember her husband and children.

Now, after Queen Victoria had once again experienced the pain of losing a son, perhaps she also felt that her body was not as good as before, and intended to head to Isle of Wight to draw a successful full stop to her life.

"Haha, good, Grandmother will live to be a hundred." Queen Victoria smiled and nodded, not refuting Arthur's words, only her slightly sorrowful gaze and slightly trembling hands proving that she did not believe it.

"Arthur, are you really going to Australia?" After regaining her composure, Queen Victoria looked at Arthur with a hint of solemnity and asked.

"You must understand that Australia is not like the British mainland; it used to be our criminal penal colony. Although it is no longer one now, there are still a large number of Australians who refuse to submit to civilization." Queen Victoria explained, "If you are going to Australia, then you must be prepared at any time. The people there are by no means docile subjects; you must grasp tightly to your gun barrels and wealth to ensure that you and the people most important to you do not suffer harm."

"Yes, I am ready, Grandmother." Arthur nodded, speaking with equal solemnity.

"That will do, Arthur." Queen Victoria stroked Arthur's head and said, "I will tell the government to swap all the territories you currently inherit with Australia, and your title will accordingly become Duke of Australia. Of course, if you cannot endure life in Australia, Grandmother welcomes you back at any time."

"Thank you, Grandmother." Arthur nodded gratefully.

When all was said and done, Queen Victoria was still quite good to her family, especially for Duke Arthur and Princess Beatrice; Queen Victoria was the dearest mother.

Of course, Arthur could also feel this care from Queen Victoria now, especially after Duke Arthur's accidental death. Whether intentional or unintentional, Queen Victoria cared even more for Arthur.

Queen Victoria's actions were swift. Only by the second day, the British Government issued a proclamation: several Australian colonies were merged into the Duchy of Australia, to be ruled by Arthur.

As for the several titles that Arthur had originally inherited from his father, they were all returned to the British Empire.

On the surface, this territorial exchange was a huge loss for Arthur. After all, although his two previous duchies were not large in land area, they were solid core regions of the British Empire.

As for Australia, which was exchanged for them, it had even been a criminal penal colony of the British Empire decades ago. Now, it was merely a colony with a vast land area but a sparse population and a backward economic industry.

Even after integration to become a complete territory, it lacked infrastructure, falling short of Arthur's original two duchies for at least decades to come.

Although everyone from the British Government down to British commoners was surprised by this territorial exchange, upon thinking of the assassination of Duke Arthur not long ago, they understood something.

January 31, 1900.

By this time, 20 days had already passed since Arthur's territorial exchange, and everyone had accepted this matter, including Queen Victoria and Arthur.

During this period, aside from Queen Victoria occasionally looking after Arthur, Princess Louise, Marguerite, and Patricia, Princess Beatrice and Crown Prince Edward had also come to visit.

Perhaps knowing that Crown Prince Edward no longer had any trouble inheriting the throne after Arthur exchanged territories, Crown Prince Edward was also quite amicable toward Arthur, even promising to sponsor Arthur with a sum of funds when Arthur headed to his territory.

Because of Queen Victoria's deliberate concealment, Arthur temporarily did not know that his father's murderer was his own biological uncle, Crown Prince Edward.

However, regardless of anything, facing Crown Prince Edward's gift, Arthur would not refuse.

After all, the future development of Australia required time, and it likewise needed a large amount of funds to support it.

Although Arthur had a method to obtain a massive amount of funds and might even be able to support Australia's development for several years to come,

this sum of funds was not easy to obtain in the short term. At least until Arthur fully mastered Australia, Arthur would not entertain the thought of this windfall wealth.

After undergoing 20 days of preparation, Queen Victoria also announced a piece of news to all her children and the government: she chose to drag her weary body to convalesce on Isle of Wight in New Zealand.

The Queen's decision still caused turbulence in British politics. After all, back in 1861 when Prince Albert passed away, Queen Victoria had once lived in seclusion for more than ten years.

Although Queen Victoria subsequently became active again and won a massive welcome from British commoners during the grand celebrations of the 50th and 60th years of the Queen's accession,

this did not mean that Queen Victoria's seclusion would have a minor impact on British politics.

On the contrary, the current Queen Victoria played an irreplaceable stabilizing role, whether for British politics or for the entire British Empire.

In the hearts of British politics and even all British commoners, Queen Victoria was a great and irreplaceable monarch.

This phenomenon also appeared on later Queen Elizabeth II. Her long reign greatly enhanced the prestige of the Queen and the royal family among the common people. Coupled with the great rise of the British Empire during the Victorian Era, Queen Victoria was even more important to Britain.

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