Chapter 649: The Busy Frederick

  Chapter 635 – The Busy Frederick

The first time he visited the European countries, Frederick’s mood was extraordinarily excited. This good mood, however, did not manage to last for a few days before he became bored.

Every day, in addition to banquets, or banquets. Imagine negotiating with the monarchs of various countries on important matters concerning the fate of the country?

Sorry, that didn’t exist. The accompanying officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have already taken care of everything, and he, the Crown Prince, only needs to follow to make up the numbers.

Even if Franz no matter how much he wanted to exercise his son, he would not dare to bring the country’s major events to try. If a little problem out, the loss is not a half a point.

Politics in front of can not afford the slightest sloppy, a bad, even the heir is involved.

Therefore, Frederick’s mission in this visit to European countries, in addition to the marriage with the royal family of Baden, is to visit relatives to exchange feelings.

Almost all European countries Crown Prince, will be in the adult in the European continent to walk on a circle. The beautiful name is to travel the world and increase knowledge, but in fact it is to brush the sense of existence, and in the meantime to understand the development of each country.

Franz is one of the few exceptions, the Revolution allowed him to ascend the throne in advance, losing this opportunity for peer-to-peer exchanges.

What seemed to be an ordinary excursion actually contained strong political implications.

Initially, these exchanges were intended to increase the bonding between future monarchs and to minimize conflicts between countries.

By now the facts have proven that this idea was too idealized. The personal feelings of the monarchs were insignificant in the face of national interests.

Of course, there are still positive aspects. In the absence of conflict of interest, friendship between monarchs may also evolve into friendship between two countries, reducing conflicts to a certain extent.

The most crucial thing was to add an insurance policy for oneself, if one had many friends, if one encountered a change of heart, there was still someone to help talk. For example:

Defeat or a coup, you can use international pressure to keep the throne, and at the very least there is a place to stay when you go into exile overseas.

All of this worked before the decline of the monarchy. Franz would have been ready to organize a “no kingship movement” in Europe if he hadn’t had the right opportunity to do so.

Frederick is a tragedy, the daily schedule is full, all day and night are socializing, not even have time to play in the mountains.

This is the disadvantage of many relatives, you can not go to the place to meet people, the host can not not not organize a welcome party.

Face are given to each other, as the top of the European society, business blow each other is also inevitable.

Frederick wants a good reputation, you have to go to these big people’s homes to walk up once, to meet the local social head of the people, people will help to create momentum.

Because of the relationship of relatives, certain even if the status of a grade lower, Frederick must also give people a face, which in turn makes his workload increased a lot.

Not to go still can not, this is Franz gave him the task. Networking this kind of thing, would rather not be able to use in a lifetime, or better than not have when in need.

The First World War in the original time and space was a classic case. The defeated monarchs of the allied countries could all go into exile overseas; as the czar of the allied countries, he actually had no place to go.

This is not Nicholas II did not want to run, the provisional government was ready to send him to the United Kingdom political asylum, the result of George V refused to receive.

Not only did the British refuse, but the rest of Europe did not welcome Nicholas II. It seems that William II showed an intention to receive him, but the joke should be more of a joke.

Franz did not think the Habsburgs would be so miserable, with the resources he now had in his hands, as long as the monarchs behind him did not die, it would not be a problem to support them for hundreds of years.

The main purpose of letting Frederick get along with everyone is still to mold a good reputation for his son, which requires everyone to support him.

Looking at the invitations in his hand, Frederick asked in frustration, “Cole, how many more banquet invitations are there?”

Cole replied in a serious manner, “Your Highness, I cannot give an exact number for this question. A preliminary estimate is that you have at least a hundred more banquets to attend before the end of your trip.

This is still the result of pushing out most of the invitations, in reality it should be a bit more. For those with closer ties, there is also the possibility of a few more banquets.”

In this era of almost no entertainment, the nobles were very keen on organizing banquets, almost two or three times a month, and those with strong families might have two or three times a week.

There were no reasons to hold banquets, and reasons were manufactured. For example: the family’s pet dog has given birth and needs a banquet to celebrate; the fruit trees on the estate have blossomed and need a banquet to celebrate ……

There are all sorts of reasons for banquets; there is nothing that can’t be done, only that which can’t be thought of. Banquet expenses are also one of the biggest expenses for nobles in this era.

Frederick rubbed his forehead, he was already on the verge of suffering from banquet phobia. At this moment, he finally understood why Franz didn’t like to organize banquets.

“Can we put off some more? For example, I’ll organize a banquet to invite them over, all at once.”

Cole seriously refused, “No your highness, this time you represent the Habsburg family, according to the rules of nobility, you can only hold a thank you banquet after the host holds a welcome banquet.

At most, you can just push back, the invitations below the Duke. In fact doing so would also be very rude, this time you will be visiting every German state, many of which have monarchs that are less than dukes.”

Frederick looked desperate, there was no way the German region had little else, but a lot of small states.

For the sake of political necessity, he simply could not avoid it, even if certain small states were just the size of a village, he had to visit them.

This is on behalf of the Habsburg family, respect for the government of the states, but also an opportunity to export the idea of Greater Germany.

After a few moments of hesitation, Frederick still compromised on life: “Forget it, let’s go ahead with the original plan. I can’t afford to be responsible in case it affects the general situation.”

Frederick’s political vision was still not lacking, and he knew very well Franz’s intention for this arrangement. As long as he went through the routine, he would have a lot more halos on his head.

To be able to mess up such a simple thing, it was expected that Franz would have to reconsider the issue of the heir apparent.

A free-for-all, it doesn’t exist. The next Austrian Emperor will need a conservative leader who can continue Franz’s policies, and the most important thing to avoid is excessive greed and grandiosity.

Frederick did well in these respects, and largely met these requirements. On the whole, he was compliant, able to fulfill the tasks Franz had set for him, and did not make a fool of himself.

He was not overly talented, but had a keen political vision. Perhaps he could not make Austria more brilliant, but he would not let the empire fall.

……

(End of chapter)