And his new manor, in front of this palace, was at best a shabby room.
Even when compared with this, Mr. Cha's Highgrove Manor has no advantages in other aspects except that it has a larger area.
Nodding to Prince Bertil, they led the way and slowly walked into the palace.
Alan turned his head and looked around, and heard Bertil's introduction in a voice like a drake.
"That's my grandfather's portrait over there, the one next to it is my great-grandfather's, and that one is..."
Every time someone was introduced, Alan stopped formally and bowed slightly.
When they arrived at the royal palace and saw these portraits, they had to observe all the necessary etiquette. Although there was only one Prince Bertil around, Alan didn't believe that no one would fail to report today's situation to King Gustav.
Just because of this sudden change of receptionist, Alan felt a little curious about the king he was about to meet.
This king is something!
…
"This is my great-grandfather's collection. He loved the culture of the Far East, especially the culture of China. He spent his entire life studying the antiques there. If you like them, you can take a few pieces away for your collection before you leave."
Dozens of porcelain and other objects are densely packed in a glass-covered display cabinet.
Alan opened his mouth slightly, and he even saw an extremely exquisite small bronze tripod, which even had inscriptions on it!
Unfortunately, Allen’s cultural knowledge is limited, and he does not recognize these inscriptions, but those that are collected here are most likely to be fine products!
Damn... the late old king liked a lot of things.
Let me tell you a joke about the late old king, who was Bertil's great-grandfather.
What was his famous quote that was well-known to everyone back then?
He said that their family, the Swedish royal family, is a civilian royal family.
Whether it is food, clothing, housing or transportation, everything is done to the same standard as ordinary people.
It implies in various ways that their family lives a poor life.
Many media and civilians actually believed such nonsense. Even now, some media still report these words to highlight the old king's "poverty".
But such a poor man, look back at his hobbies back then.
How much is this small collection worth?
Well... Take these porcelains for example. They were worthless decades ago, but they are just a small part. The old king's collection even has a national museum. The things inside...
Even if it is not as good as the collection of the National Palace Museum in China, it is definitely not small in terms of quantity and fine collections.
Do you have the nerve to call yourself a "commoner" for such a hobby?
Which commoner has so much money to buy so many Chinese antiques for collection and research?
This is Sweden, across half the globe. Just to transport these Western things intact from China would have cost an unimaginable amount of money given the technological conditions of more than a decade ago!
…
As he scanned the collections one by one and read the brief introductions on them, Alan was shocked to find out.
Among all these things, Yuan blue and white porcelain is the lowest grade.
What the hell... One of them, according to the translation above, should be a set of tea sets used by someone named Zhao in the Song Dynasty. Anyway, Alan didn't recognize the word, but the surname was Zhao, and it was specifically pointed out that it was porcelain from the Song Dynasty palace. This is most likely something used by a Song Dynasty emperor, right?
Now it is displayed here for people who don’t know the value of it to visit.
What a gem covered in dust. How nice it would be if this thing could be put in the display cabinet in my home?
…
"Your Majesty Gustav, hello, on behalf of His Royal Highness Charles and myself, I extend my warmest greetings to you."
After being shown around by Prince Bertil, Alan finally met the real host of this trip, King Gustav, in the reception room on the second floor.
Seeing this person, Alan trotted over and bowed to greet him.
The etiquette was very well done.
Gustav squinted his eyes and twitched his big nose. Seeing Alan, a tall and strong young talent, being so respectful in front of him, he couldn't help but feel very happy.
It has to be the British nobles who know how to handle things!
This etiquette and this greeting were pleasant to hear. He had been in Sweden for many years and had never heard such a sincere greeting.
Even when ordinary people saw him, they would just say hello, as if they were just meeting normally, which made him often doubt whether he was still the king.
Seeing Allen, at this moment, Gustav was even a little jealous of Boss Cha!
This mentality is a bit like the feeling Cao Cao had when he saw Guan Yu following Liu Bei.
But Gustav is not Cao Cao... Boss Cha is not Liu Bei, and Alan is even less comparable to Guan Erye.
…
After hearing Alan's greeting, Gustav stood up and took Alan's hand and shook it gently.
After shaking, he didn't rush to let go of Alan's hand, but smiled gently and said, "Charles asked you to come here this time, is there something wrong?"
Alan just said it very clearly. He was representing Boss Cha and himself. There was a very important person missing here—the Queen.
But those who knew the inside story knew that Alan was Boss Cha's chief guard. From his greeting, we could tell that he came to visit this time probably to pass on a message or do something for Boss Cha, not on behalf of the Queen.
We need to clearly identify who is the protagonist here!
Now, Boss Cha behind Allen is talking to Gustav indirectly, as they are of equal generation. Gustav is not angry, but rather very satisfied with Allen.
…
"Hey... Your Majesty, before I came here, our Highness told me that when I see you, I should treat you the same way I treat him. Our two countries have always been friendly, and His Highness and you are still distant relatives. However... I came here this time because I do have a small matter to report to you."
"Well... sit down and talk, Bertil, you just sit nearby and listen."
Gustav took Alan's hand, smiled and pulled Alan to sit on the sofa next to him. He let go of Alan's hand only after they were seated. Then he pointed to the single seat next to him and asked Prince Bertil, who was about to leave, to sit down.
The little prince curled his lips, sat down on the sofa reluctantly, lowered his head and looked very listless.
…
"Uh, Your Majesty... first of all, congratulations on your twentieth anniversary of ascending the throne, but... Your Highness may not be able to attend this year's commemoration."
Alan explained that the Queen was unwell, Boss Cha was worried about the Queen's health, and it was not suitable for her to travel recently. Then he said that in order to express her apology, the Queen sent the third prince to attend the 20th anniversary of King Gustav's accession to the throne.
"Um……"
Hearing that neither Boss Cha nor the Queen would come, Gustav frowned. The Queen wasn't coming... he could understand. The old lady was in poor health. Even the royal palace was burned down before the New Year. This was understandable.
But he couldn't understand why Boss Cha didn't come either. Normally, Boss Cha would be there for such events.
Glancing at Allen's sincere attitude, Gustav felt a little suspicious. Could it be that Boss Cha really had something to do and couldn't leave?
Or...has the Queen's health deteriorated to a certain extent?
Thinking of this, Gustav was shocked. He felt that he had guessed the key point. For things like this, it would not be appropriate for him to ask more questions.
…
"Hmm... I understand. This kind of thing, eh..."
Gustav hesitated for a moment, glanced at Bertil who was not in a proper position beside him, waved his hand and said, "Bertil, go back first. After Earl Allen has a night's rest, you can take him to visit the city tomorrow."
"knew!"
Prince Bertil was only concerned with getting out the door, and after he whispered a response, he was already gone.
Gustav looked at his "eldest son" and frowned.
…
In fact, Gustav is only two years older than Boss Cha, and theoretically, the two are distant cousins.
But this relationship is a little distant, far from being as "close" as the relationship between the Norwegian royal family and the British royal family.
The Swedish royal family has the closest relationship to the Danish royal family, both geographically and in terms of blood.
King Gustav and the current Queen Margrethe II of Denmark are cousins, she is his cousin!
Gustav's reputation in Europe is no worse than Boss Cha's. They both married late, and both had a big fuss before their marriage.
Boss Cha held the wedding of the century because of the "talented man and beautiful woman" at that time. Think about it, it was the 1970s, when some people in China couldn't even get enough food to eat, and many people had never even seen a TV. Yet his wedding was broadcast live around the world, and more than one billion people watched his wedding live.
Gustav was no less miserable. Before he got married, he encountered all kinds of things.
…
If his son Bertil is considered the most tragic prince of our time, then Gustav is almost equivalent to the most tragic king of our time.
And just like his son, he was happy first and sad later.
Gustav's father died early in a plane crash, so he was raised by his grandfather, the old king who liked to study Chinese antiques.
When the old king died, he passed the throne directly to Gustav.
Gustav was only 27 years old at the time... In this script, the young king was young and rich, the country was prosperous, the royal prestige was also good, there were no other males in the family, and he took over the country directly from his grandfather.
This script...it seems like it starts off like a happy story no matter how you look at it.
but……
The script did not develop in the direction he imagined.
Gustav, who had received elite education since childhood, was just about to show his talents on the throne when the bad news came.
He was backstabbed!
The Swedish Parliament passed a series of laws that completely restricted the king's powers.
To what extent is it restricted?
He went from being a king with real power to being... a real rubber stamp.
Some people who don't understand much and just follow the crowd may think that people like the Queen are just rubber stamps.
But this kind of people who know nothing and don't even have the basic knowledge, only get their knowledge from reading some gossip.
Like the Queen, is she a rubber stamp?
If she gets anxious, she can even dismiss the Prime Minister directly!
Let's change it to Gustav, can he do it?
He can't!
Even if he wanted to remove him, he didn't have the right to do so, and no one would listen to him.
The most amazing thing is...
When the bill to restrict the royal family was passed, the parliament forced Gustav to vote in favor.
What a great shame and humiliation this is.
A king was forced by his subjects to vote in favor of a bill that would restrict his own rights.
That’s not all. After he met the girl he loved, the parliament even interfered in his marriage. Gustav refused to surrender and even threatened to abdicate if anyone tried to stop him!
Although it is a mascot, if the king is really forced to abdicate, it will really arouse public indignation!
Later, the parliament and Gustav each made concessions and the matter was resolved.
But King Gustav is also very tough...
The German wife he married came from a very bad family... His father-in-law was a traitor...
To some extent, this can also be regarded as a kind of resistance by Gustav.
Anyway, when he got married, he also did a live broadcast. With the whole of Europe witnessing it, the scale of his wedding was no less than that of Boss Cha's.
…
Later, Gustav's tragedy was not over yet.
After nearly a thousand years of tradition, the Swedish royal family's succession law was finally tainted by parliament.
In other words, in order to prevent gender discrimination, the inheritance system was changed from the eldest son to the eldest son. The queen... those were special products that were produced when there was no other choice. How could a queen be forcibly created when there were male offspring?
Gustav had three children, the eldest was a daughter, the second was Bertil, and Bertil had a younger sister.
In this way...after Gustav abdicates, Sweden will welcome the fifth queen in its history.
Although they are all his own children, Gustav feels more uncomfortable than eating shit after seeing this change!
He always felt that the Swedish royal family was destroyed in his hands, and he felt guilty towards his grandfather and his father who died young before ascending the throne.
Now there is another son who was deposed before he even ascended the throne.
Being in this kind of environment for a long time, and then comparing myself with the big family in Daying next door.
Gustav's eyes often turned red with envy and he was speechless.
…
Looking at Alan, who was sitting on the sofa, tall and handsome, Gustav became more and more satisfied.
I don't know why, but this may be the attraction between people.
He is cowardly... or to be more precise, he is forced to be cowardly. He likes people with strong and aggressive personalities, and Alan is such a person!
"Alan... you should have a good rest today. Let Bertil take you out for a walk tomorrow. In a few days, I..."
Gustav thought about it and decided that he didn't need to be like Boss Cha, flying around all day and attending various activities. He had plenty of free time.
In this case, he really wanted to keep Allen longer.
But he is the king of a country after all. If it were just him and Alan, it would be somewhat inappropriate.
Moreover, there is a big age gap between the two parties, and there is a bit of a generation gap, so...
Gustav frowned and went through all his relatives in his mind, preparing to find a relative who was accompanying the guests to come and save the situation.
And a figure suddenly appeared in his mind, his nephew - the second prince of Denmark - Joachim Holger Waldemar Christian!
His nephew just graduated and is currently doing an internship in France. He usually has nothing to do and likes to travel around. He took this opportunity to call him over, and the two of them took Alan to the north to hunt, chat, and build relationships.
After deciding on the candidate for the foreign aid, Gustav smiled and said, "I'll take you hunting in a few days. I heard... you're pretty good at hunting, and you're also pretty good at horse riding?"
"Hahaha, Your Majesty, you are too kind."
"Well, I'll introduce you to a new friend then. You two are about the same age."
"Oh? That's really exciting."