"I don't need your money. I only need you to secure the permits for me and establish a company in the name of the British royal family.
"Once we've mined the gold, we can split the profits fifty-fifty, or I can pay you a dividend of one hundred thousand pounds every year."
The name of the British royal family could not be lent out lightly. If Leopold I had not come in person, no one could have succeeded.
Yet Victoria and her husband owed Leopold I a tremendous favor, and an annual dividend of one hundred thousand pounds was simply too tempting.
In Victoria and her husband's view, if Leopold I succeeded in his new venture, all the better. They were happy to see their elder relative get back on his feet.
If Leopold I failed, they would lose nothing, and they would have repaid him for the favor he had done them.
Most people in later generations would think Victoria and her husband had been foolish to choose the annual payment. Had they opted to split the profits fifty-fifty, they would have gained untold riches.
So why had they chosen one hundred thousand pounds a year? The answer was that one hundred thousand pounds was a tremendous sum, even for the British royal family. It was equivalent to the annual rent on four hundred thousand mu of land.
Thus, to people at the time, Victoria and her husband's choice seemed perfectly reasonable, while the choice Leopold I offered was a reflection of his willingness to stake everything.
Franz had expected all of this. That fifty-fifty split was both a show of good faith and a deliberate misdirection.
People worried about an uncertain future, and the richer and more powerful they were, the more they loathed that feeling. They preferred