Chapter 608 - 289: The Death of Prime Minister Prim (Part 2)

As a former Prime Minister of Spain, the funeral of Prime Minister Prim must be grandly held. Like Garibaldi, Prime Minister Prim is also a national hero of Spain, and he certainly deserves the highest level of funeral treatment.

Carlo specifically instructed Prime Minister Canovas not to worry about expenses when holding the funeral for Prime Minister Prim.

Carlo plans to donate 500,000 Pessetas for funeral expenses, and the government only needs to cover the remaining shortfall.

Prime Minister Canovas naturally has no objections. Both emotionally and rationally, he must strongly support holding Prime Minister Prim’s funeral in grand fashion.

Over a decade has passed since Carlo ascended the throne, yet Spain has only produced three Prime Ministers during this time.

Duke Serrano, who served as Prime Minister during the interim cabinet period, is a relatively special case. He served as Prime Minister solely to transition between Prime Minister Prim and Prime Minister Canovas.

This also represents that the power in Prime Minister Canovas’s hands was inherited from Prime Minister Prim.

As early as the administration period of Prime Minister Prim, Count Canovas had successively served as Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Industry. At that time, Prime Minister Prim had often instructed Canovas.

It was precisely because of Prime Minister Prim’s guidance that Canovas honed sufficient abilities, eventually smoothly taking over the power of the Prime Minister, becoming an existence second only to one person under Carlo.

For Prime Minister Canovas, holding Prime Minister Prim’s funeral grandly is also for his own good.

How much Spain values the previous Prime Minister will reflect how much future Spanish governments will value him after Prime Minister Canovas retires.

Although Prime Minister Canovas currently enjoys Carlo’s trust, who can guarantee that he will always stay on the Prime Minister’s throne?

For Prime Minister Canovas, ensuring that he can rest in peace after retirement is as important as reelection.

After Carlo and Canovas reached an agreement, there was no longer any suspense regarding the expenses for Prime Minister Prim’s funeral.

This funeral will be held to a very high standard, and Prime Minister Prim will soon become the first person to be buried in the Iberian Cathedral.

The Iberian Cathedral is the church ordered by Carlo to be built. It is also directly affiliated with the Spanish archbishop.

In Carlo’s plan, future coronation ceremonies for the King of Spain, royal family weddings, and funerals will be held at the Iberian Cathedral. From this aspect, one can also see how much Carlo values Prime Minister Prim.

The Iberian Cathedral will bury meritorious individuals who have made outstanding contributions to Spain. After Prime Minister Prim, more people will be buried in the Iberian Cathedral.

Of course, to reflect the merits of these individuals buried in the cathedral, the final number will not be too high, barely exceeding a hundred people.

To plan for the future, during Carlo’s reign, Carlo will only select a dozen meritorious individuals for burial in the Iberian Cathedral.

This also represents that whoever ultimately earns this honor will be remembered by history as one of the most outstanding politicians or generals during Carlo’s reign in Spain.

When Duke Serrano and Prime Minister Canovas learned that Prime Minister Prim would be buried in the Iberian Cathedral, they were not surprised at all.

Both emotionally and rationally, Prime Minister Prim is also most qualified to be buried in the Iberian Cathedral.

It was precisely because of Prime Minister Prim’s early passing that the burial order of individuals in the Iberian Cathedral became reasonable.

In the whole of Spain’s political and military circles, no one can be found whose achievements can match those of Prime Minister Prim.

The revival of Spain was largely due to the reforms pushed by Prime Minister Prim, which made his contributions far exceed those of Duke Serrano, making him truly Spain’s foremost figure in civil and military matters.

According to the Spanish government’s plan, Prime Minister Prim’s funeral will be held on June 17, 1882.

Three days will be used to notify various countries, as Prime Minister Prim was after all a former Prime Minister of Spain, and countries having relations with Spain are sure to send representatives to attend Prime Minister Prim’s funeral.

These three days are also the time Spain has to prepare for the funeral. Prime Minister Prim’s funeral is destined to be very grand, and without sufficient time to prepare, if the funeral starts off strong but ends poorly, it will be laughable.

Whether out of respect for Prime Minister Prim or to maintain national prestige, no problems can be allowed to occur during Prime Minister Prim’s funeral. Security during the funeral is also to be strictly controlled.

When Spain announced the death of Prime Minister Prim, the Spanish government immediately received telegrams from various European countries.

Although both are national heroes, Prime Minister Prim and Garibaldi have distinct differences. Garibaldi also had immense prestige in Europe and America, which is why those American countries proactively sent representatives to attend Garibaldi’s funeral.

However, Prime Minister Prim’s achievements were mostly dedicated to Spain, making his international reputation not as high as Garibaldi’s.

Nonetheless, Prime Minister Prim was at least a politician who pushed for reforms in Spain, and the European Powers naturally would not miss Prime Minister Prim’s funeral.

On the day Spain announced Prime Minister Prim’s death, Italy and Austria-Hungary immediately sent telegrams to the Spanish government, expressing their intention to send envoys to attend Prime Minister Prim’s funeral.

During the following three days, almost all European countries promised to attend Prime Minister Prim’s funeral.

Spain had indeed returned to the seat of the Powers, and ordinary countries really dared not ignore Spain’s major actions.

Even nations like the UK, France, Germany as Powers generally have to give Spain some face in usual situations. After all, everyone is a European country and there’s no need to tear each other apart without conflicts of interest.

Inside Spain, when Spanish citizens learned of Prime Minister Prim’s death, their reactions were not weaker than the Italian citizens’.

Many Spaniards spontaneously took to the streets, commemorating Prime Minister Prim in various ways.

Only ten years have passed since Prime Minister Prim’s reforms, and most Spaniards know what Spain was like ten years ago.

It can be said that it was Prime Minister Prim’s reforms that brought the hope of returning to the Powers position for Spain. Without the foundation laid by the reforms for Spain’s comprehensive strength, Spain could not have relied on two five-year plans to return to the Powers’ seat.

For such an accomplished Prime Minister, Spaniards have only gratitude and remembrance.

Many Spaniards spontaneously offered their blessings to Prime Minister Prim, hoping he could enter heaven.

Three days later, Prime Minister Prim’s funeral officially took place.

Carlo attended Prime Minister Prim’s funeral and delivered a brief speech at the site, acknowledging Prime Minister Prim’s accomplishments and praising him as Spain’s most outstanding politician and the greatest contributor to Spain’s revival.

After a series of cumbersome funeral proceedings, Prime Minister Prim was transported to the Iberian Church in the reluctant gaze of citizens, where he would be eternally buried in the Iberian Cathedral, remembered and revered by every Spaniard who comes to the church.

Prime Minister Prim had already been ennobled as a Duke by Carlo earlier, so there was no need for further ennoblement in terms of titles.

To commend Prime Minister Prim for his contributions to Spain, Carlo decided to donate 1 million Pessetas to Prime Minister Prim’s family and resolve any concerns they had.

His children will be specially cultivated by the royal family, and if successful in the future, they can enter politics.

Prime Minister Prim’s wife will also receive an annual stipend from the government, and their family can enjoy a prosperous life.