The Queen's Decision

"I understand, 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." Arthur finally breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Queen Victoria with gratitude.

"Once this period's affairs are settled, I'll accompany you to take a look at Australia!" Queen Victoria suddenly spoke, but her words were startling.

"You're going to Australia?" Arthur was taken aback, then thought of how Queen Victoria had made a grand trip to the Isle of Wight in northern New Zealand at the end of 1900, just to reminisce about the good times spent with Prince Albert and her children in her final moments.

"Yes." Queen Victoria seemed lost in pleasant memories. It was a long while before she came back to herself, looked at Arthur, and said with a smile: "Then Grandmother can spend a little more time with Arthur. After that, perhaps we won't see each other again."

Hearing Queen Victoria say this, Arthur's nose stung, and hot tears seemed to well up in his eyes, but he forced them back.

"That won't happen, Grandmother. You can still be with Arthur for a long time yet. Grandmother must live at least a hundred years." Arthur quickly said.

In truth, when Queen Victoria went to the Isle of Wight, she had already clearly known the state of her health, yet she still chose to make the arduous journey to remember her husband and children.

Now, after suffering the pain of losing a son once more, she might have also felt that her body was no longer what it used to be, intending to go to the Isle of Wight to draw a perfect close to her life.

"Haha, alright, Grandmother will live a hundred years." Queen Victoria nodded with a smile and didn't argue further with Arthur, but her slightly sorrowful eyes and trembling hands proved she didn't believe it.

"Arthur, do you really want to go to Australia?" After coming back to her senses, Queen Victoria looked at Arthur with some gravity and asked.

"You must understand, Australia is not like the British mainland. It was once our penal colony for criminals. Although it isn't anymore, there are still many Australians who are unruly and uneducated." Queen Victoria explained: "If you're going to Australia, then you must be prepared at all times. The people there are not obedient subjects. You must keep a firm grip on your gun and your wealth to ensure that you and those most important to you won't be harmed."

"Yes, I'm ready, Grandmother." Arthur nodded and spoke with equal solemnity.

"Then that's settled, Arthur." Queen Victoria patted Arthur's head and said: "I will tell the government that all the territories you currently inherit will be exchanged for Australia, and your title will accordingly become the Duke of Australia. Of course, if you can't bear life in Australia, Grandmother will always welcome you back."

"Thank you, Grandmother." Arthur nodded gratefully.

After all, Queen Victoria was still good to her family, especially to Duke Arthur and Princess Beatrice. To them, Queen Victoria was the dearest mother.

Of course, Arthur could feel this care from Queen Victoria now, especially after Duke Arthur's unexpected death. Whether intentionally or not, Queen Victoria had become even more attentive to Arthur.

Queen Victoria acted quickly. By the very next day, the British Government had issued a notice that several Australian colonies would be merged into the Duchy of Australia, to be ruled by Arthur.

And the several titles Arthur had originally inherited from his father were all returned to the British Empire.

On the surface, this exchange of territories seemed like a huge loss for Arthur. After all, although his two dukedoms were not large in area, they were solidly in the core region of the British Empire.

In exchange, he got Australia, which decades ago had been a penal colony for the British Empire. Even now, it was only a colony with vast land but a sparse population and a backward economy and industry.

Even after being consolidated into a complete territory, it still lacked infrastructure. At the very least, for decades to come, it couldn't compare to Arthur's original two dukedoms.

Although everyone from the British Government down to the common people was astonished by this territory exchange, when they thought back to the recent assassination of Duke Arthur, they seemed to understand something.

January 31, 1900.

Twenty days had passed since Arthur's territory exchange. Everyone had already accepted this matter, including Queen Victoria and Arthur.

During this time, 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 after Arthur exchanged territories, there would be no more obstacles to his own succession to the throne, Crown Prince Edward was very kind to Arthur, even promising to sponsor Arthur with a sum of money when he set out for his territory.

Because Queen Victoria had deliberately concealed it, Arthur still didn't know that the murderer of his father was his own uncle, Crown Prince Edward.

But regardless, Arthur wouldn't refuse Crown Prince Edward's gift.

After all, the future development of Australia would take time, and it would also require a large amount of financial support.

Although Arthur had a way to obtain a large sum of money, possibly enough to support Australia's development for several years to come, this money wouldn't be easy to obtain in the short term. At least until Arthur had fully taken control of Australia, he wouldn't touch that windfall.

After twenty days of preparation, Queen Victoria also announced to all her children and the government a piece of news: she had chosen to drag her weary body to the Isle of Wight in New Zealand to recuperate.

The Queen's decision still caused upheaval in British politics. After all, when Prince Albert died in 1861, Queen Victoria had secluded herself for over a decade.

Although Queen Victoria had later become active again and had been warmly welcomed by the British public during the grand celebrations of her 50th and 60th jubilees, this didn't mean that Queen Victoria's seclusion had little impact on British politics.

On the contrary, at this time, Queen Victoria played an irreplaceable stabilizing role for both British politics and the entire British Empire.

In the hearts of British politicians and even all British commoners, she was a great and irreplaceable monarch.

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

Second chapter, seeking support!