Chapter 604 - 288: The Hero’s Twilight

Since the beginning of 1882, many cabinet ministers have begun to frequently report their work to Carlo.

Currently, Carlo is an entity that the Spanish Government cannot ignore. Gaining Carlo’s support would be beneficial for their reelection.

Carlo, of course, understands the purpose of these cabinet ministers frequently reporting their work to him, and it is a result that Carlo intentionally facilitated.

The reason is quite simple, which is to prevent the Prime Minister from dominating the Cabinet Government and thereby forming a situation where royal power is marginalized.

Although the Cabinet Prime Minister can appoint nine cabinet ministerial positions, the King of Spain can also control five cabinet positions, including the Deputy Prime Minister, Archbishop, Minister of Justice, Minister of Royal Affairs, and Minister of Colonial Affairs, through direct appointments or Upper House elections.

Adding the Minister of Defense, elected by the Military Council, the political power held by the King of Spain can effectively contend with the Prime Minister, ensuring that the future King of Spain will not be marginalized.

Starting from March, the atmosphere of the cabinet elections within Spain became intense. Although the so-called cabinet elections are not determined by popular vote, the Spanish public is quite attentive to each cabinet election.

After all, to put it frankly, the Cabinet Prime Minister is elected by the Lower House, and the members of the Lower House are elected by district councils from each major region.

The district council members are elected by the public of each major region, and the public has direct decision-making power over the qualification of district council members.

All citizens over the age of 18 who have resided in Spain for more than ten years and have Spanish nationality can participate in the election of district council members and are also eligible to be elected as members.

This approach is much more democratic compared to the direct appointment system during Queen Isabella’s era, and the Spanish public actively participates in each district council election and pays significant attention to each cabinet government power transition.

According to public opinion surveys conducted by major newspapers, there are still many people who support Prime Minister Canovas for reelection.

Although Spain lost the Cuban Colony during his tenure, the West Africa Colony obtained in exchange is not without value.

More importantly, the Congo Territory of Spain currently spans millions of square kilometers, with the sheer scale of the Congo Territory enough to compensate for Spain’s regret over losing Cuba.

This is also credited to the stability in the Spanish political arena. The Conservative Party has become the largest party in Spain, and as its leader, Canovas has a far greater chance of being reelected as Prime Minister than others being elected.

Carlo’s stance is clear, which is to support Prime Minister Canovas’s continuation in office.

After becoming the Prime Minister of Spain, Canovas has not forgotten Carlo’s support. In various major decisions of the Spanish Cabinet Government, Prime Minister Canovas always fully considers Carlo’s opinions and attitudes, showing enough respect for the royal power.

This is also the reason why Carlo is willing to let him be reelected.

With the choice for Prime Minister not being much in doubt, Carlo does not intend to focus excessively on the Spanish cabinet elections.

Currently, there is a more important matter worthy of Carlo’s attention, which is that Spain’s former Prime Minister, the greatest contributor to the Spanish Savoy Dynasty, Duke Prim is critically ill.

Since being assassinated in 1875, Prime Minister Prim had gradually faded from the political scene.

On one hand, he willingly returned all his powers to Carlo and believed that Carlo could lead Spain to greatness.

On the other hand, it’s also because Prime Minister Prim’s health was in a terrible state after being assassinated.

Although the assassination did not threaten Prime Minister Prim’s life, the medical technology of this era is not so reliable.

Since then, Prime Minister Prim’s health had deteriorated significantly, and he seemed to have aged by more than a decade.

As the greatest contributor to the Kingdom of Spain, after Prime Minister Prim announced the end of his political career, Carlo, in the name of the Royal Family, bestowed a large amount of assets upon him, including a castle and several thousand acres of land.

These assets are enough for Prime Minister Prim to live well after ending his political career, with the rent from land leases alone sufficing for his life.

Additionally, Carlo assigned a small guard to Prime Minister Prim. This was not to monitor him but solely to protect his safety.

Prime Minister Prim’s reforms were certainly a positive development for Spain, but for the former vested interests, it was akin to cutting into their flesh.

Prime Minister Prim encountered an assassination attempt while still in office, and now, having withdrawn from the political arena without political power, who can guarantee that Prime Minister Prim would not face assassination again?

The guard dispatched by Carlo was precisely to protect Prim’s safety. Carlo is quite grateful to Prime Minister Prim, as without his support, Carlo would not have become the King of Spain or smoothly gained control of most of the political power.

If it had been a power-hungry prime minister instead, who would have only become more wary of Carlo after he demonstrated enough capability, it would have been impossible to give Carlo any power and influence.

Speaking of which, it has already been 13 years since Carlo became the King of Spain. Figures like Prime Minister Prim, who once pushed the Spanish revolution, are now in their twilight years.