Early the next morning, under the watchful eyes of the Spanish officials, Carlo held the Spanish Constitution and announced his coronation as the King of Spain, titled King Carlo I of Spain.
Subsequently, Prim led the government officials in swearing allegiance to Carlo, officially establishing the framework of the Kingdom of Spain.
According to the current Spanish Constitution, the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Kingdom’s Government stood as three separate powers, representing legislative, judicial, and executive authority, respectively.
As for Carlo, as the King of Spain, he nominally possessed the rights to appoint and dismiss the Prime Minister and high-ranking officials, open or dissolve the parliament, mobilize the army, promulgate or repeal laws, listen to state affairs, and convene cabinet meetings.
In reality, however, the only powers Carlo could currently exercise were listening to state affairs and convening cabinet meetings.
These two things could be viewed as one: Carlo could understand Spain’s current situation and policy developments through cabinet meetings, and that was it.
Although Carlo could propose his own opinions, it wasn’t certain whether the cabinet government, led by Prim, would listen.
But this situation wasn’t absolute; the nominal King of Spain still held a massive amount of power.
Once Carlo cultivated enough prestige and won the trust of the public and some officials, he could use his power to influence the government and achieve the policies or laws he desired.
Before gaining sufficient prestige and status, Carlo could peacefully act as a king without much power; at least the blame wouldn’t be pinned on him.
Carlo’s coronation ceremony was scheduled for November, which was about two and a half months away.
This arrangement had many benefits.
The Spanish government would have enough time to prepare for the ceremony, and foreign guests would have enough time to travel to Spain.
Of course, Spain was ultimately just a second-rate European country, and the king’s coronation might not attract much attention from the great powers, except for neighboring countries like Italy and France.
However, considering the ongoing war between Prussia and France, it was highly likely that these two countries would not send representatives to attend.
A bit later, inside the conference room of the Royal Palace of Madrid.
“Prime Minister Prim, is the list of the cabinet government ready?” Carlo sat in the main seat, smiling as he asked Prim, who had rushed over covered in travel dust.
“It is ready, Your Majesty,” Prim nodded, respectfully handing over a list.
“Since Your Majesty has already sworn the oath under the Constitution and been crowned, it is no longer appropriate for Mr.
Serrano to continue as Regent.
Your Majesty, do you have any arrangements for Mr.
Serrano?” Prim inquired.
The reason Serrano became Regent was entirely because the Spanish throne was vacant at the time, which necessitated such a position.
Now that Carlo had arrived in Spain and been crowned, continuing to have a Regent would be a sign of disrespect towards Carlo.
Historically, Serrano became the Prime Minister of Spain after Amedeo’s coronation, but that was because Prim had been assassinated.
Now that Prim was alive and well, the position of Prime Minister was naturally unsuitable for Serrano.
Considering that there were no other suitable positions for Serrano in the cabinet except for the Minister of Defense, this question actually had an answer from the very beginning.
“Let Duke Serrano serve as the Minister of Defense,” Carlo said.
“At the same time, he will concurrently serve as the Commander-in-Chief of the Army.
I feel very reassured leaving the army in the hands of a general like Duke Serrano.” Serrano’s resume was quite luxurious.
He joined the army at the age of 12, participated in more than a dozen large and small wars, was awarded the rank of Marshal at the age of 46, and was granted the title of Duke de la Torre for his merits in occupying the Dominican Republic.
So many great and small merits could not be obtained by a mediocre person, which also proved in some aspects that Serrano possessed excellent military command abilities.
Hearing Carlo say this, Prim also nodded, expressing his agreement.
Although this was the only suitable position for Serrano in the current government, Prim did not directly write Serrano’s name in the Minister of Defense column; instead, he symbolically asked for Carlo’s opinion.
After all, Carlo was now the King of Spain, and he needed to be given enough respect, at least on the surface.
Carlo also understood this, and he was quite receptive to Prim’s superficial respect.
This also meant that Prim himself was not opposed to the monarchy; like Serrano, what he opposed were those monarchs who lacked ability yet wanted to monopolize power.
After signing the cabinet list of the Spanish government, Carlo looked back at Prim and asked the question he cared about most: “Prime Minister Prim, when can the next cabinet meeting be convened?” “According to the schedule of holding a cabinet meeting once a week, the next meeting should be in three days, Your Majesty,” Prim replied.
Prim didn’t mind Carlo wanting to attend the cabinet meeting; after all, it was Carlo’s right.
But if Carlo wanted to express his opinions at the cabinet meeting right after arriving in Spain, Prim would pretend not to hear them.
After all, no matter how talented a person was, they first had to understand Spain’s situation, right?
What use would an opinion expressed without any understanding of the situation be to Spain?
“I will attend the cabinet meeting in three days, Prime Minister Prim.” Hearing that the cabinet meeting was in three days, Carlo got straight to the point: “I hope to see detailed information about Spain during this time to understand exactly what level our country is at.
Please rest assured, I will not interfere with Spain’s policies until I have sufficient understanding.
Prime Minister Prim, you can begin your preparations for reform.
I will support you unconditionally, and I will make my stance clear at the meeting.” Prim nodded.
With Carlo’s declaration of unconditional support for reform, he didn’t care about any suggestions Carlo might make at the cabinet meeting.
After all, suggestions were just suggestions; whether to listen to them was up to Prim himself.
And Carlo’s firm attitude in supporting reform would practically help Prim, which was very beneficial for improving Spain’s current situation.
Ironically, Prim and Serrano, who overthrew Queen Isabella II of Spain, could actually be classified as royalists.
Although Prim’s loyalty to Spain was higher than his loyalty to the King, as long as the King did not harm Spain’s interests, Prim remained loyal to the King.
Even if only for the sake of Spain’s unification, Prim would never turn the King into a mere figurehead.
Because only when Carlo’s prestige and status grew higher would the various regions of Spain submit to the King’s rule and obey the government’s administration.
If all regions refused to submit to the King’s rule, Spain would become increasingly chaotic, and regions would seek autonomy or even independence, which would be fatal to Spain.
This was also a reason why Prim supported the monarchy.
The current loose republican system could not save Spain at all; instead, it would push Spain into the abyss of division and regional autonomy.
Only a unified and highly centralized kingdom government could help Spain walk out of the abyss of division and autonomy, and reshape a unified and powerful Kingdom of Spain.