Edward VII's farewell ceremony set a world record in both scale and grandeur. Nine kings rode behind the hearse, while hundreds of thousands of British citizens saw him off.
Once the farewell ceremony was over, a gathering among the royal families was naturally indispensable. They normally lived scattered across every corner of the world, and this rare chance to assemble gave them plenty to discuss.
Ferdinand even proposed signing a treaty to safeguard the rights and interests of the royal families: all nations would mutually guarantee the eternal survival of monarchies!
The proposal won everyone's approval, but disagreements arose when it came time for concrete action.
Monarchy was still blazing like the noonday sun. No one yet knew the misery that would befall royal families after the World War, so they were hardly eager to take on responsibility.
After all, they were not Ferdinand, capable of making a promise that carried the weight of nine tripods. If anything happened, the political forces within their own countries certainly would not be willing to help others for nothing.
When the time came to actually contribute, if a king could not command his own army, that would be awkward indeed!
Of course, if they had known that, after World War I, most of those present would be driven from their thrones and exiled abroad, things might have been different!
Watching their reactions, Ferdinand shifted his gaze toward Wilhelm II and George V. Clearly, the treaty did not chiefly depend on the attitudes of a few small nations; the key lay in the positions of the six European great powers—Britain, Germany, Russia, Austria, Italy, and Bulgaria!
Yet among the kings of these six countries, only Ferdinand, Wilhelm II, and George V were present. So long as they were willing to withstand pressure at home,