The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1109 - 830: Funeral

Chapter 1109: Chapter 830: Funeral

Time, like fine sand, slips away all the faster the tighter one grasps it in their hand.

In the blink of an eye, Christmas of 1934 had passed, and the year had advanced to 1935.

The new year did not bring good news for Arthur, as Princess Louise’s health declined more and more, to the point where she could no longer stand on her own.

Even after meticulous examinations by doctors, they could not identify any specific ailment. They came to the sole conclusion that Princess Louise’s issues were due to the aging of her bodily organs, not a disease.

Arthur felt powerless against this natural aging process, for which even later generations had no good solution.

The officers could tell, starting from the annual report meeting at the beginning of the year, that Arthur’s mood had not been very good.

Arthur had no desire to explain the reasons to these officers, and those who knew did not spread the word.

This resulted in the period from January to February being one where officers, upon seeing Arthur, were nothing but obsequious, fearing Arthur’s unexplained anger might involve them.

Truly, Arthur was not in the mood to trouble them, for by the time February arrived, Princess Louise was bedridden, her body reaching its final stage.

Arthur sat by Princess Louise’s bedside, his expression complex, tinged with reluctance.

Princess Louise, on the other hand, took it quite well, chuckled as she grasped Arthur’s hand, and glanced at Queen Mary, Princess Anna Miller, Peter, George, and Prince William, as well as Princess Anna Miller’s new husband, Prince Juan. She smiled at Arthur and said, “Arthur, I am going to meet your father.”

“Mother…” Upon hearing her words, Arthur’s expression of reluctance deepened, and his hands involuntarily tightened.

“It’s alright, child, you’ve done well. If I can meet your father and grandmother, I will tell them, Arthur is Australasia’s greatest monarch, the pride of the entire royal family.” Princess Louise gently patted Arthur’s hands, her smile unwavering, and then turned to Queen Mary and Arthur’s children: ”

“Mary, children, even if I am no more, my love for you will always endure. May the Lord bless you all, my dearest children.”

The hand in Arthur’s suddenly grew limp. Arthur froze, gently laying Princess Louise’s hand back on the bed and covering her with the blanket, his eyes softly scanning over Princess Louise, whose lips still bore a smile with no trace of regret.

“Mother.” Arthur whispered softly, but there was no response.

“Mother!” “Grandmother!” Queen Mary and the princes and princesses called out as well, but likewise with no response.

The medical personnel advanced, tiptoeing for a careful check, then softly shook their heads towards Arthur.

Princess Louise, the beloved mother of Arthur and elder of the Australasian royal family, had died.

This news instantly became the biggest headline in Australasia, featuring on all newspapers and spreading rapidly across the entire Empire.

Due to Arthur’s influence, the people held his mother, Princess Louise, in high regard.

Following the establishment of the Empire, the people of Australasia referred to Arthur as the Father of Australasia, commemorating his achievements from the time of the Australian Principality through to the foundation of the Australasian Empire.

Princess Louise, Arthur’s mother, was thus dubbed the Grandmother of the Empire, indicative of the public’s affection for the Emperor’s mother.

Princess Louise had always presented herself as benevolent, and was universally praised for her kindheartedness. To lose the Empire’s Grandmother so suddenly deeply grieved the majority of Australasians.

The officers finally understood why Arthur had been in a foul mood earlier, and they paid even more attention to the upcoming funeral of Princess Louise, not daring to slack off in the slightest.

From the moment Princess Louise’s death was confirmed on February 17th, 1935, every place in the Australasian Empire that flew the National Flag lowered it to half-mast as a sign of respect.

Mournful music sounded from the Royal Palace, with all members of the royal family wearing expressions of sorrow as they accompanied Princess Louise on her final journey.

Looking at Princess Louise, who lay motionless, Arthur felt directionless for the first time. But then, seeing Queen Mary and the little ones beside him, Arthur’s conviction was bolstered once more.

Many aspects of the funeral had to be determined, such as the time of burial, and the burial site, among others.

Regarding the burial site, Arthur initially planned to lay Princess Louise to rest in the Royal Cemetery of the Palace of Nations. However, in her final moments, Princess Louise requested of Arthur that she wished to return to Sydney, to eternally reside beneath Sydney Palace.

The reason being, Sydney was the first stop for Princess Louise and Arthur upon arriving in the Australian Region, and she had spent a great deal of time living in Sydney.

Moreover, not only did Sydney Palace contain a 1:1 replica of their former residence in the United Kingdom, but it also housed many relics of Arthur’s father, Duke Old Arthur.

Without much deliberation, Arthur decided to honor Princess Louise’s last wish and inter her in Sydney Palace’s Sydney Cemetery.

As a former Royal Palace, Sydney Palace had a prepared cemetery, but no members of the royal family had died during its use as a Royal Palace, and the Sydney Cemetery had never been utilized.

After the Royal Palace was relocated to Saint Arthur Castle, the Sydney Cemetery became even less used. In order to fulfill Princess Louise’s last wish, the Australasian Government hastily organized personnel to refurbish the Sydney Cemetery, and made certain improvements, completing everything before the funeral proceedings began.

On February 22, 1935, Princess Louise’s funeral was officially held.

Although she was only the Empress Dowager of the Empire, the Australasian Empire took great care regarding this matter.

What Arthur had not expected was that on the journey from Saint Arthur Castle to Sydney for Louise’s burial, millions of Australasians gathered along the route.

Clearly, they all wished to see their imperial grandmother for one last time. Without Princess Louise, there would be no Arthur, and no large and prosperous Australasian Empire as it stood now.

Due to the Spanish Civil War, Arthur did not send out extensive invitations to European royalty. However, most of the European royal families still showed respect by making it in time for the funeral on February 22nd.

This was also thanks to Australasia having once sold the technology for transport planes; otherwise, some countries’ planes wouldn’t have been fast or have sufficient range for global travel, making it impossible for them to reach Australasia within a few days’ time.

The funeral was a grand affair. Arthur personally aided in bearing Princess Louise’s coffin, and several members of the European royal families followed on horseback.

Beyond Arthur’s and Australasia’s own standing, a large part of the attention was due to Princess Louise’s lofty status herself.

Princess Louise came from the Prussian Royal Family; she was the daughter of Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia and great-granddaughter of King Frederick William III of Prussia, as well as a cousin of Emperor William II of Germany.

This also showcased the complexity of relationships within the European royal families. From the side of Arthur’s father, Duke Old Arthur, William II was Arthur’s cousin, and their blood relationship was fairly close.

But from the side of Arthur’s mother, Princess Louise, Arthur was William II’s first cousin once removed, though the relationship was much more distant.

In terms of bloodline, the side of Arthur’s father, Duke Old Arthur, was certainly dominant. Not only was the blood relation closer, but the preference for male lineage in Europe played an important role as well.

As a member of the Prussian Royal Family, Princess Louise was also the famous daughter-in-law of Queen Victoria, naturally belonging to one of the most prestigious ranks of European royalty.

Furthermore, with Arthur already holding a very high position within European royalty and being the Emperor of the third superpower, Australasia, his status was at its peak.

This resulted in an overwhelming turnout of European royalty attending the funeral, which in scale was hardly less than the previous funeral of King Edward VII of Britain.

If one were to merely compare the number of public participants, Princess Louise’s funeral even surpassed it. After all, Arthur’s reputation in Australasia was extremely high, and even a small matter might affect millions of Australasians.

The funeral ceremony was still presided over by Archbishop Stede of Australasia.

Over these past thirty-plus years, Archbishop Stede had fully realized his duty, which was to serve Arthur unconditionally.

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This led to Australasian Protestantism differing from that in Britain, as the church in Australasia was completely controlled by the monarch.

The largest impact was that the language schools established by the church constantly taught immigrants the ideals of military patriotism and nationalism.

And the cardinal tenet of Australasian Protestantism was to fight for God and Arthur.

Combined with Arthur’s lofty personal reputation and the government’s and people’s spontaneous worship of Arthur, it placed his status almost on par with that of God.

This is no joke. The accumulation of various events elevated Arthur to an inviolable legendary figure in Australasia.

The advantages of this were clear: all of Arthur’s flaws would be hidden, and he himself would be idolized by these fervent people.

But there were drawbacks too, in that any minor act by Arthur might be misinterpreted by his officers and people.

Moreover, any laws currently enacted that affected the nation’s development would become infinitely more difficult to repeal in the future.

This was a source of headaches for Arthur. While the cult of personality was beneficial to Arthur’s rule over the country, it was not conducive to the future monarchs’ governance.

However, before the end of World War II, a suitable level of cult of personality could effectively enhance the military’s fighting spirit, so it was not necessarily a bad thing.

Through a variety of methods employed by Arthur, the loyalty of the Australasian Military to Arthur was far greater than that of the populace.

It began with military instructors, followed by military chaplains. Their sole job was to ensure ideological education in the military.

They conveyed only one message to the soldiers: loyalty to the monarch precedes patriotism. Loyalty to the monarch comes first, patriotism second.

It was precisely because of this cult of personality that the Australasian Military could exhibit a fierce readiness to die, launching one final assault on the enemy even when certain death was known to be inevitable.