Returning to Australia

October 24, 1900, the first day after Queen Victoria's death.

As early as yesterday afternoon, after the Queen stopped breathing, someone was specifically responsible for preparing Queen Victoria's body and for transporting it back to Britain for burial.

Although Queen Victoria's favorite place in life was the Isle of Wight, as the monarch of the British Empire, the Queen, admired and worshipped by all Britons, would ultimately have her remains buried in the royal cemetery on British soil.

The transportation of the body was very difficult. It would take at least half a month to sail from the Isle of Wight to mainland Britain, and the time could become even longer when factoring in resupply stops along the way.

To transport Queen Victoria back to Britain sooner, Crown Prince Edward ordered the accompanying HMS Renown to be responsible for the operation.

As one of the Royal Navy's fastest warships, HMS Renown could complete the journey from mainland Britain to New Zealand in just over twenty days.

While Britain was busy transporting Queen Victoria's body, the royal families and high-ranking officials of other countries had no reason to remain on the Isle of Wight.

Everyone bid each other farewell and boarded warships to return to their respective countries.

The only person among them who had some acquaintance with Arthur was William II. As William II was leaving, he specifically called Arthur aside, and the two chatted for a while longer.

William II was astonished by Queen Victoria's concern and care for Arthur. Originally, last night, at the time of Queen Victoria's passing, William II had intended to stay by his grandmother's side and simultaneously improve his standing with the British.

But unexpectedly, it was because of Arthur that he, an Emperor, did not approach Queen Victoria last night.

However, William II did not express any displeasure about this. He merely reiterated the cooperation treaty between Germany and Australia.

After all, anyone could see that after Queen Victoria handed over British New Guinea and New Zealand to Arthur's management, Australia would become the most powerful nation in the Southern Hemisphere, with no rivals in the South Pacific and the East Indian Ocean.

The only power that could compete with Australia, the British Empire, under Queen Victoria's request, not only had the soon-to-be King Edward agree to a non-aggression treaty but also promised to protect Australia as an independent nation for ten years.

In ten years, with the dual support of the British Empire and Germany, Australia would absolutely be able to fully integrate the influence of British New Guinea and New Zealand. Combined with Australia's own territory, even the British Empire would be powerless against this behemoth it had created.

However, William II was happy to see this happen, as Germany had few interests in this region, apart from German New Guinea.

But in reality, neither British New Guinea nor German New Guinea had large populations. In fact, the entire New Guinea had a population of just over 1.4 million.

In William II's mind, exchanging German New Guinea for a unified and powerful Australia's support in a future World War I would be absolutely acceptable.

If the pre-unification Australia could only harass the French colonies from the rear, then the post-unification Australia would pose a threat to French colonies in future wars, and even the annexation of some remote areas would not be an issue.

Take French New Caledonia, for example. It was very close to mainland Australia. If a conflict were to break out between Australia and France, could France hold onto this region?

The logistical costs associated with distance were tenfold. It was possible that the logistical expenses required for France to merely hold this region would far exceed its value.

Therefore, William II's intention to win over Arthur became even more apparent. He even specifically promised to arrange support for Australia's industrial development upon his return, accelerating the pace of cooperation between Germany and Australia.

The reason for William II's urgency was that before Queen Victoria's death, she had specifically instructed the British Empire to provide at least five million pounds sterling to Australia annually for ten years, and not to cut off immigration sources.

This would make Australia, which had already broken away from Britain, even closer to Britain, which was not in William II's interest.

To win over Arthur, William II decided to initiate Germany's immigration plan to Australia. If the majority of Australia's population were German, wouldn't Australia's policies subtly lean towards Germany?

Arthur was unaware of William II's inner thoughts, but even if he had known, he would have only smiled faintly.

To change Australia's demographic structure, Germany would need to immigrate at least four million people to Australia.

Such a massive number, let alone ten years, would likely be impossible even after twenty years of German immigration to Australia.

And in those twenty years, Australia could attract millions, or even tens of millions, of immigrants from all over Europe and even the world. It would be even more impossible to change the overall immigration structure.

There was only one way to make the majority of Australians of German descent: Australia would only import immigrants from Germany for a short period.

But Arthur was not foolish. Although Germans had a relatively high literacy rate and generally received more cultural education.

However, as an immigrant nation like Australia, it was crucial to ensure the dominance and proportion of the main ethnic group.

While Arthur was willing to accept immigrants from other countries, this would only be after the proportion of Australians, led by those of British descent, remained above fifty percent of Australia's total population.

Immigrant nations require diversity, but in terms of speaking power, only one is needed. To prevent future immigration from causing many problems, the proportion of the main ethnic group had to be increased.

After bidding farewell to William II, Arthur also boarded a warship and set sail for Australia.

However, unlike his arrival, Crown Prince Edward was no longer by Arthur's side. Instead, he was accompanied by two thousand members of the Royal Guard Army and over a hundred attendants.

The Royal Guard Army, needless to say, was an elite unit of the British Army. Combined with those Arthur already possessed, the size of the Guard Army would reach four thousand, further solidifying Arthur's position.

Queen Victoria's gifting of these attendants to Arthur was not without purpose. Arthur was an outsider in Australia. Although he had smoothly seized power and gained the support of most Australians, some matters still required caution.

Furthermore, Arthur had lost all his influence in Britain. It would theoretically be very difficult for Arthur to recruit loyal attendants.

After all, no one could guarantee the loyalty of newly recruited attendants; people's hearts are hard to fathom.

But Queen Victoria's attendants were different. Most of them had served the British Royal Family since childhood and were extremely loyal to Queen Victoria.

After Queen Victoria bestowed these attendants upon Arthur, their allegiance shifted to Arthur.

These individuals were far more loyal than the attendants Arthur had painstakingly recruited in Australia, and they were more experienced in serving others and acting as subordinates.

Second update, seeking support. Wrote a bit more, seeking support!