The death of Umberto I shocked the whole world. The result made many people feel incredible that such a king was actually killed by an assassin who did not follow his footsteps.
However, compared with other countries, Italy is more sad. Many people did not expect that their monarch would disappear like this. So when King Umberto was sent out from the hospital, people stood on the street to see him off.
The scene was solemn and solemn.
As for the royal family, they were all sitting in the carriage with red eyes. It would take them some time to adapt to this result.
As for the Prime Minister, he is busy preparing for the next step. There are a lot of things waiting for him to deal with after the king's death, let alone the funeral. Next, the new king will ascend the throne, and there will be more important divisions of power, especially
Keep his busy feet off the ground.
In addition, it is not surprising that the next king has been determined, and as the eldest son, Carlo is the best candidate. Because on the hospital bed, Umberto had already confirmed that in front of so many people, it was impossible to be overthrown and re-elected.
But it is a pity that even if Carlo became king, he would have very little power, because his power was basically divided between the prime minister and the regent, his uncle Amedeo, and he did not put his mind on it.
Now he plans to finish his father's funeral first and wait for the rest.
It was very quick to get to Palermo from Rome and very quick to go back.
But this time it was no longer a cargo ship. The Prime Minister transferred the best cruise ship in Italy, the Gordon. This cruise ship, which can carry 300 passengers, asked him to rush from Venice to Palermo when he was still in Rome.
.
At that time, the idea was to send the assassinated Umberto I from Palermo to Rome, which has better medical facilities, but now the body can only be sent to Rome.
Fortunately, Prime Minister Cairoli took this into consideration and already issued a message asking the officials left behind to prepare for the funeral, and they now need to return to Rome quickly.
On April 25, the Gordon, carrying everyone and the king's body, arrived in Rome. There were also many people on both sides of the road silently seeing off His Majesty.
On April 27, the gate of the Quirinale Palace opened, and the guards in simple clothes walked at the front with various weapons. Then the carriage decorated with chrysanthemums carrying Umberto's body drove away slowly, driven by the charioteer Feng.
come out.
Following behind were family members, Queen Margherita and Carlo in mourning clothes. In addition, uncle Amedeo also took his family for a stroll, followed by government officials and representatives from various countries. Everyone's face was filled with emotion.
His sad expression made the atmosphere seem very depressing.
As the funeral procession set off, people on the street couldn't help but follow suit, making the procession larger and larger. As the mayor of Rome, Sabot ordered the police to maintain order and avoid any accidents.
event.
The long procession went all the way to the Pantheon. This temple built by Octavian's son-in-law is now the royal cemetery, and Victor Emmanuel II, who led the unification of Italy, is also buried here.
Due to the size of the Pantheon, the people who followed were kept out. Four tall guards carried the coffin containing the body of Umberto I and carried it to the grave that had been dug.
Such a scene made the queen cry again, which in turn caused other people to cry, and for a time the cemetery was filled with cries.
However, no amount of grief could prevent Umberto's coffin from being buried. When the priest stepped forward and talked about the king's life, Carlo breathed a long sigh of relief.
This was not because he was not sad about Umberto's passing, but because he was an adult in his heart, he had already passed the sadness. He could say that among the people present, except for the royal family, no one else felt so sad.
At least most of it is just an act. For example, the fat man over there looks like his parents are dead. It's so fake.
Where is that guy over there...
Hey, when Carlo saw a gray-haired old man, he felt like he had seen him somewhere before. He had definitely seen him before, but where had he seen him before?
Carlo couldn't care less about the old man now, because the funeral attendees had already come to greet them as family members.
"My condolences, Queen."
"Um."
The queen, who was still crying, replied casually.
"This is Ambassador Wales from England."
The official who was in charge of the introduction whispered the name of the visitor to Carlo. Why was there a diplomat to introduce him? Because as the next king, Carlo also needed to accept greetings from the guests, and in order to avoid being blamed by him
Not knowing someone caused embarrassment, so the Prime Minister assigned a young official to remind him.
"Please have your condolences, Your Highness Carlo."
"Thank you, Ambassador Wells."
"This is Monsieur Gendero, the French ambassador."
"Please have your condolences, Your Highness Carlo."
"Thank you, Ambassador Gendero."
…
Carlo felt like he was constantly saying thank you to the guests, which made him feel like a puppet on strings, being controlled by others.
Then the white-haired old man also appeared in front of him.
"This is the distinguished Mr. Giuseppe Garibaldi."
When introducing the old man, the young official used honorific words, which shows the official's respect for the old man.
It turned out to be him, no wonder I felt familiar.
However, when Carlo heard the introduction, he felt more like a sigh of familiarity. The famous name of Garibaldi has long been known to him. It can be said that if it weren't for him, the unification of Italy would have been much more difficult, and it would have cost a lot of money.
It also takes much longer.
If you want to choose a selfless person in the unification war, then no one can convince people except Garibaldi. This is a heroic figure with great charm, and he also has heroic tragedies. The reason is very simple, that is, he
Is a republican.
Without letting Carlo think too much, Garibaldi walked up to him.
"Please have your condolences, Your Highness."
"Thank you for coming, Mr. Garibaldi. It's an honor to meet you, a hero who helped unify Italy."
Faced with Carlo's unconventional answer, Garibaldi couldn't help but pause for a moment.
"It seems that His Highness thinks I am a hero?"
"I think so."
"You know I'm a republican."
"But it still doesn't change the fact that you are a hero."
The brief conversation ended like this.
Carlo continued talking to the others.
However, the name Carlo remained in Garibaldi's heart.
Regarding this episode at the funeral, no one knew what Carlo thought of Garibaldi except the young official behind him.
