Chapter 12 The Queen's Interview
Before the "Golden Jubilee Celebration", Barron was summoned by Her Majesty the Queen.
This is not the first time Barron has come to Buckingham Palace. To be precise, it is in the memory of his predecessor that he accompanied his father several times during some royal celebrations, but he won the Queen’s It must be the first time to receive him in person.
In other words, if Barron was not the only heir left in the Devonshire Duke family, it would be difficult for him to obtain the title of Duke before he was officially awarded the title of Duke. summoned.
Although he had already expected it, when the reality was faced by Barron, he still couldn't help but sigh.
The fact is that the queen did not summon him for long, she just showed up and chatted for a few words.
The content of the chat was, on the one hand, expressing regret for the recent events that happened to the Duke of Devonshire family. The Queen said that she had originally planned to attend their family's funeral in person, but she really had something to do and couldn't be separated. Therefore, the Crown Prince, His Majesty the Prince of Wales, was sent there.
In Barron's view, the reason for this may be that it is the Golden Jubilee celebration of the Queen's 50th year on the throne. Therefore, not only herself, but also people around her certainly do not support the Queen's participation in such a ceremony. A funeral - not to mention that although the Queen seems to be in good spirits, she is already 76 years old after all...
She specifically mentioned the old lady of the Duke of Devonshire family -
"I heard her name when I was young, and later met her at several gatherings. After talking to each other, it is really sad to hear the news of the passing of my old friend after so many years.”
In addition, the Queen also stated that she will personally award Barron the title of Duke during the ceremony.
As for the others, there are none.
The implication is obvious, that is, she also knows the situation of the Duke of Devonshire family at this time. If the family can survive this crisis, they will deserve nothing less.
But if Barron can no longer survive this crisis, then I am afraid there is nothing they can do to help.
Barron did not have too many illusions about this. After all, it is obvious that since World War II, the most obvious point of successive British governments is that they have continued to restrict and restrict the nobility, and even In the new century, this weakening has begun to be directed at the royal family.
Under such circumstances, in order to maintain the relationship with the government, the royal family could not support the nobles too obviously.
And having said that, after World War I and World War II, and until now, countless British noble families have been submerged in the long river of history. In view of this situation, the royal family is not willing to get involved.
After all, I helped you this time. Will other noble families help you next time? Although there are only more than twenty non-royal duke families, there are so many others including marquis, earls, viscounts, etc. If we really intervene this time, I am afraid there will be no peaceful life in the future.
So I feel sorry for the Duke of Devonshire family, but they still stand on the sidelines.
……
This interview with the Queen is just a process before the official start of the "Golden Jubilee Celebration" tomorrow. In addition to Barron representing the Duke of Devonshire family, there are many other nobles, celebrities and dignitaries who have also been received by the Queen. .
It is better to seek for yourself than to seek others. Barron had already realized this, so after returning to the apartment, he immediately began to study the next bet.
He did not place a bet on today's game. After all, the World Cup will last for a month. It is impossible for him to bet on every game. In that case, it would be too obvious and high-profile.
And it’s not that he can still remember the results of all the games. The ones that left a deep impression on him only accounted for about one-fifth of them.
However, he still has some impressions of tomorrow's game, because there are Argentina and England in those games. The Asahi World Cup is one of the few World Cups in which Argentina did not appear in the group stage. Group F they are in has four teams: Nigeria, England, Sweden and Argentina.
Nigeria, the African Eagle, is a traditional strong team in Africa; England is also a traditional strong team in Europe; the Swedish team is not weak either, plus Campas Eagle Argentina, this group can be said to be complete A perfect team of death.
In the end, Argentina accumulated four points with one win, one draw and one loss, and was jointly eliminated by the other two teams England and Sweden, which also had one win and two draws...
In tomorrow's game, Argentina Will beat Nigeria, England will draw with Sweden, these two games, especially the latter one, are available for betting...
……
Although the last meeting could be said to have ended on bad terms, after Barron was received by the Queen, Yulia visited him again.
After hearing from him the process of the Queen’s interview with him today and asking for some details, Yulia sighed:
“Even if they can come forward to fight against those banks It's okay to say hello, but that's how it is now. Everyone always blames the nobles, so the royal family is very cautious in this regard. "
"What is the attitude of those banks now?"
Heard. When Barron asked, Yulia shrugged:
"Fortunately, we still have time. The fastest loan maturity is only two months from now. However, within this year, a total of more than 15 million pounds of loans will mature. If the losses cannot be solved well before, The problem, well, at least give the other party a little confidence, I'm afraid even It’s not that easy to extend the loan.”
“How much money will we need in two months?”
“Barclays Bank’s 200 in two months. The loan of 10,000 pounds is about to expire. This money was my mortgage at that time. We have some of our assets in London, so we either have to give up these assets, or we have to find a way, or sell some other assets to raise funds. However, during this period, many real estates cannot be sold at high prices. The real estate in London is in It has even fallen in the past six months. Less. ”
It can be said that the large-scale Internet bubble crisis last year had an impact on the global economy. After all, the American stock market was deeply affected, and the Nasdaq index fell nearly 80% from its peak. , until now, is still in a continued downturn.
As the most important part of world finance, the crisis in the United States spread to the world and started the decline of the European economy.
"Of course, Lord, the first thing for you now is to find a way to pay the inheritance tax and complete the inheritance procedures for the family title and assets."
Before leaving, Yulia said:
“Also, during this period of time, London will be very lively, but you still need to be extremely careful, especially at night, and do not appear in nightclubs or other carnival parties... Once you are exposed to those gossips If the tabloids focus on it and then it is reported, I am afraid the negative impact will be very big..."
The idea of joy in hardship is precisely because of the huge losses of the family trust fund, so for Barron, inheritance The inheritance tax required for these assets has been reduced a lot...
Because of the tax-free nature of the trust fund, after calculation, the inheritance tax he needs to pay at this time is even less than two million pounds.
You must know that more than half a century ago, his grandfather faced inheritance taxes of up to 7 million pounds...
This can also be seen from one aspect the decline of the Duke of Devonshire family at this time.
(End of this chapter)