Chapter 378 The Crown Prince’s Wedding

"I can't say that I have agreed to anything. It is mainly to promote the unity of the Brussels Treaty Organization countries. The internal reason is that the current domestic fiscal deficit can still be considered serious, and the ruling party still needs to discuss military expenditures." Alan Wilson began to talk, "In foreign policy, the consideration of winning over allies..."

"Say something understandable." General Mountbatten frowned, "There is no need to say such nonsense at home."

"The fiscal deficit will inevitably lead to a reduction in military spending. What's even more serious is that there are no new warships in service." Alan Wilson changed his attitude and said, "As a naval general, I believe that you, the respected Governor, must have something to say."

"That's right!" General Mountbatten looked serious. This was really a serious matter.

Mountbatten's biggest dream is to be the Lord of the Admiralty like his father. As we all know, the distribution of British military expenditures has always been dominated by the navy. When military expenditures are cut, it is usually the navy that cuts military expenditures. "Is it serious?"

"Now that the Labor Party is in power, it can be said to be very serious." Alan Wilson told the truth. This is not a simple issue between the Conservative Party and the Labor Party. If the country's financial problem is huge, both the Conservative Party and the Labor Party will do this.

After that, it becomes the old question of who is more traitorous to the country, the Labor Party or the Conservative Party. When the Conservative Party was the opposition party, it opposed disarmament and the reduction of military spending. But the result is still the same when it comes to power?

As a naval general, Mountbatten became serious when he heard about the issue of reducing military expenditures, especially naval military expenditures. In the final analysis, this hit his pain point, because he was really an active soldier and a naval general. .

On the question of whether I really had a cow, the sincere General Mountbatten lowered his voice and said, "What does Prime Minister Attlee think about this?"

"The opposition is not resolute." Alan Wilson recalled Prime Minister Attlee's performance in Brussels and gave a relatively affirmative answer.

"That means resolutely not objecting. Nelson-class battleships, right? They have been parked on the slipway for more than a year." Mountbatten nodded to himself, "What are you doing with them? They are already behind the times, and the maintenance costs are still very high. , if Salazar is willing, there is nothing wrong with leasing, it can save costs in terms of finance and manpower. And since there are financial difficulties, the Navy should take the initiative to propose a self-rescue plan, is that okay?"

"Of course there is no problem. The navy can think about the country. What's the problem?" Alan Wilson was like a yes man, performing the rainbow fart technique on his father-in-law from multiple angles and with high intensity.

The Navy must think about the country and take the initiative to stand up when people are in urgent need, which reflects the Royal Navy's responsibility in protecting the British Empire for hundreds of years.

Obviously General Mountbatten had this responsibility, and he happened to take the time to come back to attend the Crown Prince's wedding, and he took care of this matter by the way.

Very reasonable.

That would be no problem, and Alan Wilson breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, this matter was not that difficult. It's just that this difficulty is not great for General Mountbatten, but it is still very difficult for him as a civil servant.

The aristocracy actually has to be divided into different types of aristocrats. After all, even within the aristocracy there is a gap between the rich and the poor. But it is obvious that Mountbatten is a very powerful figure within the current imperial aristocracy.

Mountbatten's father had served as Minister of Naval Affairs and was already very influential within the Navy. As long as he made good use of this network, he would have a great chance of success.

As for Alan Wilson, he really didn't. Even if he said the same thing, what Mountbatten said and what he said would have different effects. There is no way around it. This is the reality.

November 20th is the wedding day of Crown Prince Elizabeth and her fiancé Prince Philip. For the subjects of the entire British Empire, this is a day that they have been waiting for a long time, whether they are nobles, celebrities, ordinary citizens, or overseas civil servants. Follow London through various channels.

Even for Canada, Australia and New Zealand, this day can be called a universal celebration.

The feelings between the several dominions and the United Kingdom have not been diluted by time. The entire page of the newspapers of the major dominions is full of news about Crown Prince Elizabeth's wedding. They are full of words of praise, hoping that this is a good sign and can save Britain from the world war. Pull out from the haze.

Even the prime ministers and ministers of the current cabinet and members of the opposition parties have expressed their good wishes, and the embassies of various countries have not hesitated to express their blessings for the wedding of the century.

Celebrities gathered at Westminster Abbey, waiting to bless the future heirs of the empire.

Prior to the wedding, King George VI had created Philip the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Meriony and Baron Greenwich.

The King of Iraq, Princess Juliana, Crown Prince Bernard of the Netherlands, and the Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Princess Elisabeth of Luxembourg, were present in person.

The BBC will follow the entire wedding process, and it will be made into a documentary for global broadcast.

Accompanied by the Australian band, after arriving at Westminster Abbey, the Crown Prince entered the most exciting stage of the wedding in a joyful mood. After the music was played, the composer read a hymn. After the hymn ended, The cathedral plays the wedding march.

Crown Princess Elizabeth leaves the cathedral and joins the Duke of Edinburgh to cheers and applause from Londoners.

"God knows how I got in." Alan Wilson asked himself. He had never known that there were so many nobles in Britain. How come he never saw any of them? Where did these nobles come from?

Alan Wilson also had a mission. He and several civil servants from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were responsible for receiving the Iraqi king and his family.

Faisal II is the current King of Iraq, which was granted independence in 1932. This made Iraq the first country to be established after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

However, Britain still maintained military bases in its territory; after the death of Faisal I, Arab nationalists repeatedly asked the British to leave Iraq, but the British refused.

Historically, Faisal II was overthrown by a coup in 1958, but it was obviously still early and the very immature king came to attend the wedding of the British Crown Prince.

Faisal II was now only thirteen years old and attending school in England, but power was clearly out of his hands. Accompanying the king to London was Princess Badia bint Ali who attended the wedding and looked at the still young king.

Alan Wilson mainly communicates with Princess Badiya. Currently, the rights and interests in Iraq are controlled by Nuri Said and the regent, Princess Badiya's brother.

After a few casual conversations, Alan Wilson discovered that Princess Badiya lived until Saddam was hanged.

It seems that he has some potential as Wu Zetian. He just chatted with Princess Badia and fulfilled his reception duty.

There is no doubt that Alan Wilson can't get rid of the problem of key politics, but he just started, and then it was Princess Badiya's personal performance time, saying that there have been many coups in Iraq in recent years, and the king is still young and doesn't know what to do. The country is facing this complex situation.

Listening to the constant chatter of the king's aunt, Alan Wilson thought about it, "It's mainly a problem with the army. There have been military coups in recent times, which shows that the danger in Iraq comes from within the army. Hostility towards the royal family It comes from this, so it is very urgent to build a reliable army."

"That's right. There have been many military coups in recent years, which is very disturbing." Princess Badia looked at her young nephew and said, "Especially at this time!"

According to traditional habits including but not limited to Arabs, the current Faisal II obviously does not have the ability to govern.

Therefore, the power of the country lies in the hands of the prime minister, and the representative of the royal family is the royal family of Regent Abdullah. The royal family of Iraq and the royal family of Jordan are one family, descendants of the Hashemite family who were driven out by the Saudi royal family.

"In fact, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also talked about the issue of Jordan and Iraq, and many colleagues also have their own opinions." Alan Wilson thought as he said, "Considering the close relationship between Jordan and Iraq, the two countries should maintain a certain degree of intimacy. However, no matter how good the relationship between the two countries is, it cannot solve the anti-royal ideology of the army. In fact, from a religious perspective, most people in Iraq belong to Shia, while both the royal family and the army belong to Sunni. , Not to mention what the majority of Shia people think, first of all, the Sunni-dominated army actually opposes its own king, which shows that the problem is really serious."

"It seems that the British Empire has also realized the seriousness of the problem." Princess Badia sighed, "Is there any solution?"

"We need a guard that is loyal to the royal family. Since the problem comes from the army, and it is an army that shares the same beliefs as the royal family. Since the army and the royal family are both minorities, but they still oppose the royal family, it means that at least some of the Sunni officers in the army are , If they have confidence in controlling the situation after the coup, they must be made less confident.”

Alan Wilson changed the topic when he said this, "I wonder, Your Highness, have you ever heard of the story of Louis XVI and the Swiss Guards? Maybe you can get inspiration from it. Since the army itself is a religious minority in Iraq, Then by supporting a minority as a guard that only belongs to the royal family to check and balance the army, maybe a balance can be achieved."

This was originally intended to be used by Alan Wilson in a report to Prime Minister Attlee to deal with Egypt, but now the national conditions in the Arab world are similar. There are also many Christians in the Middle East in this era, and the proportion is not smaller than the proportion of Copts in Egypt. .

The historical trend of Christians in the Middle East is that the number of Christians decreases as time goes by. In the 1980s, the number of Christians in Iraq was 9%. Less than 3% were left when the United States invaded Iraq, and a little more than 1% was left during the second Iraq War.