Chapter 4 : The Queen Decision

"Hmm, I agree with you going out, but not now."  Queen Victoria was silent for a long time, then nodded and said.

"Thank you grandma. " Arthur finally breathe a sigh of relief when he heard the words, and looked at Queen Victoria gratefully.

"When the matter of this period of time is settled, I will accompany you to Australia." Queen Victoria suddenly said.

"Are you going to Australia?" Arthur was taken aback for a moment, and then thought of Queen Victoria's trip to white island, a small island in the north of New Zealand, just to remember Prince Albert and their children at the last moment of her life.

"Yes."  Queen Victoria seemed to be in a good memory, and it took a while to come back to her senses. She looked at Arthur and said with a smile.

"Grandma will be able to accompany Arthur for a while, and I might never see you again."

Hearing what Queen Victoria said, the tip of Arthur's nose suddenly become sour, and tears seemed to well up in his eyes, but Arthur restrained it forcefully.

"No, grandma. You can stay with Arthur for a long time, and grandma will live for at least a hundred years." Arthur said hastily.

In fact, when Queen Victoria went to the White island, she already clearly learned of her physical condition, but she still chose to go to re-live the good memories of her husband and children.

Now that Queen Victoria has experienced the pain of losing her son again, she may have felt that her body is not as good as before, and she plans to go to the White Island to a draw a successful conclusion to her life.

"Haha, okay, grandma will live a long life." Queen Victoria nodded with a smile, not refuting Arthur's word, but her slightly sad eyes and trembling hands prove that she did not believe it. 

"Arthur, are you really going to Australia?" After regaining her sense, Queen Victoria looked at Arthur with some seriousness and asked. 

"You must be clear that Australia is not like British mainland. It used to be our criminal exile. Although it is no longer the case, there are still a larger number of Australians who are not civilized." Queen Victoria explained. 

"If you want to go to Australia, then you have to be prepared at any time, the people there are not obedient citizens, you must hold your guns and wealth tightly to ensure that you and your loved ones will not be harmed."

"Yes, I'm ready, Grandma." Arthur nodded, and solemnly said.

"That's fine, Arthur." Queen Victoria touched Arthur's head and said. "I will tell the government that all the territories you inherit now will be exchange with Australia, and the tile will also become the Duke of Australia. Of course, if you can't stand the life in Australia, grandma welcomes you back anytime."

"Thank you grandma." Arthur nodded gratefully.

After all, Queen Victoria is good to her family, especially for Duke Arthur and Princess Beatrice.

Of course, Queen Victoria's love for Arthur can also be felt now, especially after the unexpected death of Duke Arthur, whether intentionally or not, Queen Victoria cared more for Arthur.

Queen Victoria's action was very fast. The next day, the British government issued a noticed that several Australian colonies were merged into the Australia Duchy, rules by Arthur.

The titles originally inherited by Arthur from his father were also returned to the British Empire.

On the surface, this exchange of territories was a huge loss for Arthur. After all, although the territories of his two Duchies were not large, they were actually the core areas of the British Empire.

In exchange, Australia was once a place of exile for criminals of the British Empire decades ago. Now it is just a colony with vast land area, but spares population and a backward economy and industry.

Even if it becomes a complete territory after integration, it still lacks infrastructure. At least for decades, it will not be comparable to Arthur's original two Duchies.

Although the British government and the British civilians were all surprised by this exchange of territories, they understood something when they thought about the assassination of Duke Arthur not long ago.

31, January 1900

At this time, 20 days passed since the exchange of Arthur's territories, and everyone has accepted it, including Queen Victoria and Arthur.

During this period, in addition to Queen Victoria's occasional care of Arthur and Princesses Margaret, Louise and Patricia, Princess Beatrice and Crown Prince Edward also visited.

Perhaps knowing that Arthur not threaten his position of inheriting the throne after he exchanged territories, Crown Prince Edward was also very kind to Arthur and even promised to sponsor Arthur a sum of money when he went to the territory.

Because of Queen Victoria's deliberate concealment, Arthur still doesn't know that his father-killer was his own uncle, Crown Prince Edward.

But in any case, Arthur would not refuse Crown Prince Edward's gift.

After all, the development of Australia in the future will take time and also require a lot of funds to support it.

Although Arthur has a way to obtain a large amount of funds, but this gift may be able to support the development of Australia in the next few years.

But this amount of funds is not easy to obtain in a short period of time, at least until Arthur has fully grasped Australia.

After 20 days of preparation, Queen Victoria also announced a message to all her children and the government, that she chose to go to New Zealand's White Island to relax and recuperate.

The queen's decision still caused turmoil in British politics. After all, when Prince Albert died in 1861, Queen Victoria had lived in seclusion for more than ten years.

Although Queen Victoria became active again afterward, and won the welcome of numerous British civilians at the grand celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Queen's ascension to the throne.

But this does not mean that Queen Victoria's seclusion had little influence on the British politics.

On the contrary, the current Queen Victoria plays an irreplaceable role in stabilizing both the British political arena and the entire British Empire.

Queen Victoria is a great and irreplaceable monarch in the British political arena and even in the hearts of all British civilians.

This phenomenon also appeared in the later generations of the Queen of the United Kingdom. The long-term rule greatly improved the prestige of the Queen and the royal family among the people. Couple with the great rise of the British Empire in the Victorian era, Queen Victoria is very important to the British Empire.