Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 178 Naming the Eldest Child
King Louis I and his wife stayed in Spain for more than a week, during which time the royal families of the two countries got along quite harmoniously.

After reaching a consensus with Louis I on cooperative colonization, most of the time that followed was spent in relaxing banquets and entertainment.

Charles and Louis I spent most of their time discussing state affairs, while Queen Sophie and Queen Maria talked about having children.

Although the personal doctors of the Spanish royal family are all famous medical masters in Spain and even in Europe, the medical technology of that era was not so advanced after all, and childbirth was still very dangerous.

In addition, Queen Sophie was a little panicked about the possible dangers of giving birth as it was her first pregnancy. The Spanish royal family did not have experienced elders to teach and help her. Queen Maria, who had some experience, could indeed properly guide Queen Sophie and help her better adapt to life after pregnancy.

According to the time calculation, Queen Sophie should give birth in the middle of this year, around May or June.

And now it is the end of March, which means Carlo will be welcoming her first child in the next few months.

For Carlo, naming his first child also required careful selection and consideration.

Of course, there is nothing to consider. As the King of Spain, Carlo's first child's name must be Spanish.

This is also to express the royal family's close attitude to the Spanish. After all, if the members of the royal family all have Italian-style names, it will make the Spanish even more dissatisfied with the foreign royal family.

Carlo had already thought of a name for his first child. Of course, Carlo did not have the habit of letting several generations have the same name like the European nobles.

If my son is also named Carlo, it will always feel weird to call him by his name in daily life.

If the first child is a prince, his name will be Juan Fernando, a standard Spanish name.

If she were a princess, her name would be Sophia, symbolizing intelligence and wisdom.

Not only was Carlo very concerned about his first child, but even Vittorio Emanuele II in Italy and Franz Joseph I in Vienna often sent telegrams to inquire about the child. Royal families and government officials from various countries also showed symbolic concern.

Since Prime Minister Primo's reforms have been effective, in the eyes of European countries, Spain has returned to the ranks of European powers.

Although there is still a big gap compared with the five countries of Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Austria, it is almost the same as the great powers like Italy, and even slightly surpasses it in some aspects.

Especially after Spain rebuilt its ironclad ships, it was gradually pulling away from Italy. If Italy was a powerful country at that time, what about Spain, which was about to pull away? Wasn't it another powerful country?

Whether or not it is a powerful country is no longer important. With its current strength, it is not surprising that Spain has received symbolic attention from senior government officials of other countries.

What's more, the status of the first prince or princess of the Spanish royal family who is about to be born is so noble.

In addition to being Carlo's eldest son or daughter, she is also the granddaughter of King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy and the first granddaughter of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austro-Hungary.

Until Franz Joseph I's other children grow up, this unborn little one will indeed be Franz Joseph I's only grandchild.

Spain, Italy and Austria-Hungary, any of these three countries is a European power at the level of a great power. The Austro-Hungarian Empire is also a truly powerful country ranked among the five traditional powers in Europe. It is impossible for other countries not to pay attention to it.

In addition, the royal families in Europe are closely connected. Although the only relatives are Spain, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, if you count Carlo's brother-in-law, King Louis I of Portugal, then there are a lot of European countries that are related to the little guy.

Apart from anything else, the favor shown to him by Vittorio Emanuele II and Joseph Franz I was enough to ensure that this little guy would be successful in any country he went to.

Speaking of Carlo's father, Vittorio Emanuele II, there is one bad news that must be said, that is, his health is not as good as before.

It has been seven years since Carlo came into this world, and a lot has changed in these seven years.

Vittorio Emanuele II, who was born in 1820, was already 55 years old, which is definitely an elderly person in today's Europe.

If we look at the current life expectancy in Europe, 55 years old is already quite long-lived. It’s just that the living standards of European royal families are much higher than those of ordinary people, so the life expectancy of European royal family members is also much higher.

But no matter what, at the age of 55, he has passed the peak of his life, and Vittorio Emanuele II's health has gradually deteriorated, even to the point where it affects the handling of government affairs.

Italy is indeed a constitutional monarchy, but as the king who unified the whole of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II enjoys a high reputation among the Italian people and has a very high voice in the government.

A considerable number of government affairs had to be handled personally by Vittorio Emanuele II before the final decision could be made, which may be one of the reasons why Vittorio Emanuele II's health continued to deteriorate.

Although Italy's land area is not large compared to other powers, it has a population of 2866 million, which is more than 1000 million more than Spain.

Such a large population also means that there are numerous government affairs that need to be handled, and a considerable part of the burden of government affairs falls on Victor Emmanuel II.

For this king who had experienced the grief of losing his sons many times, his health was indeed getting worse due to the long-term busy schedule, but he had to face more and more political affairs, falling into a long-lasting vicious cycle.

Although since the beginning of this year, Vittorio Emanuele II has handed over some political affairs to his eldest son, Crown Prince Umberto of Italy, this can only reduce his fatigue to a certain extent and cannot effectively improve his physical condition.

Vittorio Emanuele II was very clear about what he would face in the future.

But because of this, he is still very concerned about the future development of his sons. The eldest son, Crown Prince Umberto, will inherit the Kingdom of Italy in the future, and Vittorio Emanuele II is quite confident in the ability of the Crown Prince.

As a prince who received an elite traditional aristocratic education, Crown Prince Umberto had a good performance in military affairs. He graduated from Carlo's alma mater, the Royal Military Academy of Turin, and performed quite well in the Austro-Prussian War.

Italy's role in the Austro-Prussian War was a little awkward, because Italy had no effect on the outcome of the war from beginning to end. If the Austrian army had not retreated in large numbers to prevent the Prussian army from retreating, it would have been difficult for Italy to recapture Venice and take over South Tyrol.

Although the Italian army performed poorly, as an ordinary commander, Crown Prince Umberto performed well in the war.

Even though the army suffered a defeat, the Crown Prince remained generally calm and was even able to make some responsive decisions.

Although his overall abilities are not that good, if the goal is only to succeed the throne and pass it on, Crown Prince Umberto is definitely qualified.

The second son, Amadeo, was not very interested in political affairs. Instead, he was more willing to hold dance parties and invite local noble ladies to participate.

Vittorio Emanuele II was not too concerned about his son's affairs. The Italian throne was inherited by Crown Prince Umberto, and Carlo was living well in Spain. These two people were enough to ensure that their brother Amadeo enjoyed his leisurely aristocratic life.

Carlo was also concerned about the health of his father, Vittorio Emanuele II.

Although he has only been in this world for a few years, Carlo has indeed felt his father's love, which is rare in the royal family.

Although there are certain differences between the royal families of the East and the West, the king is, after all, the ruler of a country, not to mention a powerful king like Vittorio Emanuele II.

The fact that he agreed to the interest-free loan to Carlo without hesitation showed that his feelings for Carlo were indeed sincere.

In the telegram exchanges between the two sides, Carlo informed Queen Sophie of the approximate time of delivery and promised to bring his family back to Italy within a year to visit his father.

After dealing with some messy things, Carlo finally had a long period of free time.

After all, Carlo did not have that much power at the time, and most of the Spanish government's affairs were still handled by Prime Minister Primo.

For Carlo, this may not be a bad thing. At least Carlo has certain power in his hands, which can ensure that his rights will not be completely undermined.

On this basis, you can actually get a lot of free time to enjoy your life in this world.

After all, the king is also a human being and needs time for rest and entertainment. If he spends most of his time dealing with government affairs, the life of a king would be a torture.

Not everyone can endure the busy life of getting up early to handle government affairs, dealing with midday affairs after dinner, and meeting government officials and foreign guests during afternoon tea.

With great power comes great responsibility, and this is no mere rhetoric. Since becoming the Prime Minister of Spain, Primo has aged much faster than before.

The main reason is that the burden of Spanish reform is all on Prime Minister Primo alone. Reform is related to the fate of Prime Minister Primo and Carlo, as well as the future development of Spain, and it is absolutely not something that can be taken lightly.

This also led to the situation that at the most extreme times, Prime Minister Primo slept no more than five hours a day and had to travel back and forth between various parts of Spain to inspect the implementation of the reform policies promulgated by the government in various places.

It was only after the official performance appraisal system was introduced that the burden on Prime Minister Primo was slightly eased.

As time came to mid-April 1875, Carlo was by Queen Sophie's side almost every day, accompanied by a large number of servants and doctors.

Queen Sophie found out she was pregnant at the end of October, but she had already been pregnant for several months. After all, the technology is not advanced now, and it is impossible to detect whether a woman is pregnant in a short time.

According to the ten-month pregnancy time calculation, Queen Sophie should give birth between April and June. Although there is no sign of giving birth yet, Carlo is a little excited and nervous because he is a first-time father.

Carlo was of course excited about the birth of his first child, but childbirth surgery in this era was too dangerous, and Carlo did not want to see his wife Queen Sophie or his child in danger.

There is no way around it. Before medical technology was updated, giving birth was indeed a very dangerous thing.

In this era, the only way to give birth is through natural delivery. Caesarean section is possible, but the wound healing is a big problem and it can easily get infected.

Once you are faced with an infection, no matter who you are, the only outcome is basically death.

It would take decades for various antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs to be invented. Even though Carlo had vigorously developed Spanish biology and medicine, it would not be possible to improve in a short period of time.

Perhaps when Carlo's next generation, that is, the future princes and princesses, have children, they will be able to enjoy a more advanced and safer medical environment.

The royal family is about to welcome its first prince or princess, which is big news in Spain today.

Prime Minister Primo's reforms were quite successful, and the best proof of this is the continuous growth of per capita income in Spain. People are able to eat enough and live a good life, so they will naturally be grateful to the king and government officials above them.

As a king who promoted reform, Carlo was naturally warmly welcomed and loved by the Spanish. If some people still slightly rejected this foreign king because of his Italian identity when Carlo first came to Spain, then since the completion of the first five-year development plan, such rejection has completely disappeared.

People not only did not have the slightest rejection of Carlo's Italian identity, but instead believed that he was the savior sent by God to Spain to save the hungry Spaniards at the time.

Although part of this is the propaganda from Carlo’s public opinion empire, it is undeniable that the people’s support and love for Carlo has increased infinitely.

Compared to Amadeo I in history, Carlo has laid a more stable foundation for his descendants. As long as the subsequent monarchs do not commit suicide, the throne of Spain can basically be passed down for a long time within the House of Savoy.

(End of this chapter)