Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 584 A Great Opportunity
The monarchs and crown princes of various countries were very interested in the treaty that Carlo mentioned to guarantee the survival of European royal families. Those who could make their own decisions decided on the spot to join the treaty mentioned by Carlo and jointly safeguard the survival of European royal families.

Those who could not make a decision on their own contacted their home countries by telegram on the same day, reporting the matter to the monarchs of their respective countries and awaiting their decisions.

The fact that royal families from different countries have united to ensure the survival of European royal family members is good news for the European nobility as a whole, and naturally no one will try to stop or refuse it.

Moreover, this proposal was initiated by Carlo. Carlo's status and influence within European royalty, as well as his personal power and prestige, are sufficient to make him the initiator of this treaty and help it be better implemented.

The rest is history. In the presence of members of the royal families of various countries, Carlo was the first to sign the Treaty on the Immaculate Conception of the Crown, followed by the kings and emperors of the important European countries.

Following in the footsteps of Charles Carlo, Austrian Emperor Ferdinand II, with the death of Emperor Franz Joseph I just beginning and the unstable domestic situation in Austria, indeed needed such a treaty to protect his life.

King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy was also happy to give Carlo face, since the treaty wouldn't do him any harm.

Following them were King Albert I of Belgium, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, King Constantine I of Greece, and King Nicholas I of Montenegro, among others.

In some European countries, because the king did not attend in person, the signing was done by the crown prince or an important minister representing the royal family.

This treaty, which has garnered the signatures of almost all European monarchies except for Britain, Germany, and Russia, demonstrates just how concerned the European royal families are about their own status and situation.

Unfortunately, especially with the revolution in Russia, the domestic situations in various European countries were unstable, and forces opposing the monarchy could overthrow the government at any time, threatening the lives of the royal families.

The three countries that did not sign the treaty were not actually unwilling to sign, but rather either they did not receive the news or did not have a representative of sufficient weight to sign the treaty, and could only wait to join the treaty in the future.

During World War I, Austria-Hungary and Russia were adversaries. Although World War I is now over, Russia is still embroiled in civil war, so it did not attach great importance to the funeral of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, and the diplomatic representatives sent were not qualified to represent the royal family, but were merely ordinary officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Britain did send a sufficiently influential Foreign Secretary, but the Foreign Secretary cannot represent the monarchy. As for Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, he was completely sidelined by Prime Minister Hindenburg and had no say in this matter.

The signing of this treaty immediately caused a sensation in Europe, with many European media outlets hailing the Treaty of the Unbreakable Monarchy as a declaration of war between European monarchies and republics.

Faced with the uproar in Europe caused by the treaty, Carlo did not suppress it at all, but instead allowed the public to discuss the Treaty of the Unsurpassed Monarchy.

From Carlo's perspective, securing such a treaty would be entirely beneficial. It would allow him to become the leader of European royalty, a prestige that could play a crucial role in critical moments.

Furthermore, preserving the royal families of various countries as much as possible is also very beneficial to Spain's own monarchy.

Monarchy was the mainstream system in Europe, so republicanism could not spread widely. But if republicanism became the mainstream system in European countries, it would become extremely difficult for monarchy to continue.

If Spain were to become the only monarchy in Europe, even if the Spanish royal family itself had done nothing wrong, some citizens would be misled by other political systems and begin to question their own monarchy.

As the saying goes, "the tallest tree in the forest is the first to be felled by the wind." The best-case scenario for the Spanish monarchy is that most European countries would still maintain a monarchical system, and the Spanish monarchy would not stand out.

As for whether it is a constitutional monarchy or an absolute monarchy, that is another question. In some cases, it is difficult to distinguish between a constitutional monarchy and an absolute monarchy.

Like Spain today, its political system should be classified as a constitutional monarchy. However, Cocal's power far exceeds that of a constitutional monarch; it wouldn't be wrong to say that his power is comparable to that of an absolute monarch.

After the funeral, Carlo and Queen Sophie stayed in the Austrian Empire for half a month before returning to Spain.

This is also one of the benefits of having a reliable successor in the country. Carlo doesn't have to worry about any unexpected events happening in Spain, so he naturally has plenty of time to relax abroad.

Unlike the relatively relaxed Carlos and his wife, their two sons, Prince Martin and Prince Alexander, who accompanied Carlos on this trip, were not so leisurely.

Prince Alexander, in particular, has much to do given his inevitable future as he is destined to take over the Grand Duchy of Finland.

Following the funeral of Franz Joseph I, Prince Martin, through Carlo's arrangements, met with several diplomatic representatives of the Grand Duchy of Finland and engaged in a fairly pleasant conversation with them.

With Spain's arrangements in place, the Finnish government accepted the fact that Prince Alexander of Spain was about to become the Grand Duke of Finland.

They had no choice but to accept it; Spain's proposal was not so easy to refuse, at least tiny Finland did not have the power to do so.

Of course, Carlo wouldn't just resort to coercion to get the Finnish government to recognize Alexander as Grand Duke. Besides informing the Finnish government that Alexander was about to become Grand Duke, Carlo also had several pieces of good news conveyed to them.

Given that Alexander was the Grand Duke of Finland, Spain was willing to engage in closer economic cooperation with Finland, importing large quantities of timber and other resources from Finland and exporting other resources to Finland, including food, medical supplies, and industrial products.

Don't mistake this for ordinary import and export trade between two countries. In fact, without the connection between Alexander and Carlo, it wouldn't have been so easy for the Finnish government to reach a cooperation agreement with Spain.

The biggest challenge is that Finland is extremely poor in resources. Apart from its relatively abundant forest resources, it has only vast, frigid areas and fishery resources.

However, these resources are clearly just a drop in the ocean compared to Spain's resources.

In terms of fishery resources, the west coast of the Iberian Peninsula and the coast of West Africa are among the world's most famous fishing regions, with abundant fishery resources and countless kinds of seafood products.

In terms of forest resources, Spain's West African and Congo colonies possessed vast rainforests. These untouched virgin forests had robust trees and were relatively inexpensive to cultivate.

Even in terms of mineral resources that have not yet been widely explored and exploited, Spain's reserves far exceed those of Finland.

Under such circumstances, the import and export trade between Spain and Finland has effectively become a form of Spanish support for Finland.

In addition to import and export trade cooperation, Spain will also reduce tariffs on Finnish goods exported to Spain, which will also help Finland sell its goods in Spain.

After Spain offered these conditions, the Finnish government had no leverage to refuse.

Although a foreign grand duke is not as good as a grand duke elected by the people, if the foreign grand duke can bring great benefits to the Finnish government, then it is not necessarily a bad thing to have a foreign grand duke.

More importantly, in addition to economic support, the identity of this foreign duke was also extremely important.

With Grand Duke Alexander in charge, Finland and Spain were essentially natural allies. This meant Finland wouldn't have to worry about a potential Russian invasion again.

If the Finnish government can focus on developing the economy, the country can enter a golden age of development, which is exactly what Finland needs right now.

For this reason, the Finnish government readily agreed to Carlo's request and made a firm promise to Spain that it would hold a referendum in Finland by the end of 1917 to ensure that the government would elect Prince Alexander of Spain as Grand Duke of Finland while maintaining the monarchy.

1917 was definitely a suitable time for Prince Alexander to be crowned Grand Duke of Finland.

The reason is simple: according to the course of history, the Spanish flu would have broken out in 1918.

Of course, the flu in this world could never be called the Spanish flu; it would only be called the American flu or the French flu.

If Prince Alexander were to be formally crowned Grand Duke of Finland in 1917, he would have ample time to deal with the impending influenza pandemic the following year.

If Alexander can perform well during the flu season and demonstrate his care for the people and kindness, he can gain the trust of the Finnish people and establish a foothold in Finland.

Such opportunities are extremely rare. Generally, it takes foreign monarchs at least several years to establish themselves in a new country.

Even in a power struggle with the government, one might be forced to abdicate for various reasons before even gaining a firm foothold.

Carlos and Amadeus I, the Spanish king in history, are good examples of this.

It took Carlos several years to establish himself, and that was without vying for power with the Spanish government and with the support of then-Prime Minister Primo.

While Carlo's brother Amadeo did become King of Spain in history, Primo had been assassinated before he arrived in Spain, which caused Amadeo I to lose an important supporter.

Ultimately, Amadeo I only held onto the throne for a short time before having to relinquish it, which is why the Savoy dynasty of Spain was so short-lived and relatively unknown in history.

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(End of this chapter)