The sudden change in the situation between Prussia and Austria aroused Anna's worry. Although her married life with William was not as beautiful as she imagined, at least compared to those dandies in Vienna, William's life lacked a trace of fun.
, but Anna is already married to William after all, and Anna must adapt to the change in status.
Anna used her status as the Queen of Prussia to repeatedly organize ladies from the families of Prussian military and political officials to attend salons organized by her. At the salons, Anna frequently invited opera troupes from Vienna to perform. Anna hoped that through this subtle influence,
way to get the Prussian upper class to change its attitude towards Austria.
I have to say that Anna's actions have indeed achieved some results. These ladies seem to have nothing to do with the formulation of Prussian national policies, but the husbands or relatives of these ladies all hold high positions in Prussia.
When these men in high positions learned about Anna's activities from the noble ladies, they couldn't help but hesitate.
You must know that Anna is from Austria, and now she is the Queen of Prussia. Her actions can be seen as representing the Hohenzollern royal family. Anna is even William's bedsidence. These important ministers do not know what William is thinking.
What kind of thoughts do you have, and Anna is undoubtedly the person closest to William, which makes the important ministers a little confused.
Anna's actions buffered the relationship between Pu and Au from another aspect.
When William initially learned that Anna was organizing a salon, he did not stop her. After all, in Europe, the most important mission of a queen is to help the king win over his important ministers. Anna's hosting of a salon and making friends with these ladies can also be seen as
In completing her mission, William not only did not stop her at first, but even went out of his way to help Anna expand the influence of her salon.
But Anna held salons too frequently. In just one July, she held as many as seven salons and three balls. Before William could have any objection, Buell jumped out impatiently.
"Your Majesty, Her Royal Highness the Queen's actions are really too big. She has been holding such social activities between ladies throughout July. This has caused the entire royal family's financial budget to greatly exceed the original plan!"
William was stunned by Buell's complaint. In his opinion, how much would it cost to hold some salons? Even if the salons held by the royal family were of a higher standard, they would not far exceed the royal family's financial budget. You must know that the royal family spends a month.
The financial budget is 400,000 silver marks.
Seeing William's confused expression, Buell did not defend himself but placed a report on William's desk.
Opening the first page of the report, the line of numbers that came into view made William feel that his little heart seemed to be a little unbearable. On the first page of the report, there was a line showing a series of numbers in a deliberately thick font:
Nine hundred and seventy-six thousand six hundred and eighty-five silver marks.
When I saw this number, William wanted to overturn his desk.
The annual budget of the Prussian royal family is five million silver marks. Most of this part of the money comes from the annual benefits generated by the Prussian royal family's property, while the other part, about one-fifth of the budget, is allocated by the kingdom's finance. If converted into RMB,
The purchasing power of one silver mark is equivalent to about 12 yuan, which means Anna spent more than 10 million yuan this month.
Although the finances of the Prussian royal family are abundant, there are many things in the Kingdom of Prussia this year that require large amounts of financial resources to support. For example, the expansion of the army and the construction of the navy, and the tight national finances will inevitably require the Prussian royal family to support certain projects out of their own pockets.
conduct.
William finally managed to endure it and turned over the first page and then looked at the detailed cost items at the back. He saw that a large part of the money was used by Anna to hire Vienna's top opera troupe, and whenever these opera troupes performed
At the end, Anna will also generously reward some money, so it's no wonder Anna's expenses are so high.
Because there are too many vassal states in the entire Holy Roman Empire, and each vassal has the right to issue its own currency. In Prussia, the thaler silver coin was mainly used, but after William came to power, he directly adopted the mark for a simple currency name, and the mark
It is divided into two types: gold and silver. A silver mark weighs 2.4 grams and contains 0.972 silver.
Vienna and Paris have always been known as the two luxury centers on the European continent, and the top opera companies in these places naturally charge scary prices. A two-hour performance every day costs 50,000 silver marks, and Anna wants to
Showing a kind of royal scale, after each opera troupe performance, a silver mark ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 will be awarded. As for the ball, the cost is even higher.
"Buel, how did this money get into Anna's hands?"
William suddenly thought of a question. You must know that the financial budget of the royal family has always been in the hands of Queen Mother Louise and Buell, and every year when the expenses are large, Louise or Buell will come to William to communicate, but
Neither Louise nor Buell came to communicate with William this month, so why did the money end up in Anna's hands? William was a little puzzled.
After hearing William's question, there was a trace of embarrassment on Buer's face. Seeing his expression, William was a little unhappy.
"Buer, as an important minister of the kingdom, there is nothing else you can't say in front of me!"
"As you command, Your Majesty!"
After hearing William's urging, Buer spoke with some embarrassment.
"Since Her Royal Highness the Queen entered the palace, the relationship between Her Royal Highness the Queen and Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother has been very harmonious. Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother admires Her Highness the Queen very much. Therefore, at the beginning of the month, Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother issued a decree allowing Her Royal Highness the Queen to intervene in the management of royal property, and
Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother also summoned the ministers to give instructions. Unless it is extremely necessary, Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother will be in charge of the royal family's finances."
Damn, this was the only word left in William's mind at the moment. He didn't expect that his mother would have such a good relationship with Anna, and actually give Anna such great rights.
You must know that since Louise has come forward to say this to Buell, it means that Buell does not have the right to review the expenditure of royal property. He can only passively obey orders. In this way, as long as the amount is not too large, Anna will not be divided.
If you take money from the royal treasury in batches, you will not be hindered at all.
A wry smile appeared on William's face. Isn't the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law supposed to be the most difficult? Why do these two people in his family seem to get along like mother and daughter, but they don't even tell him about such a big thing!
In fact, there is a reason why Louise dotes on Anna.
Unlike other women who were ups and downs in the court, even before William's father died, under the pressure of Frederick II, William's father except Louise when Frederick II was not paying attention.
They did not dare to do anything excessive to Louise. Even if William was transferred to the territory of Count Hans, it was only with the consent of Frederick II.
The reason why Frederick II agreed was because he believed that if a boy wanted to grow up to be a man, he must learn to endure hardships and stand hard work since he was a child. What Frederick II hated most were those luxurious playboys.
, and if raised in the palace, it has experienced the baptism of the palace,
Such a child is bound to not be a child who knows how to endure hardship and understand people's livelihood. He does not want William to become that kind of person. In addition, Hans is an old soldier. Frederick II trusts Hans and also takes a fancy to him.
Because of Hans's military style, he agreed to hand over William to Hans to raise him.
Precisely because of the protection of Frederick II, Louise did not become as extreme as the heroines of some court dramas, and it may be because of William's problems with Karina's three daughters. The kind-hearted Louise
Si felt a little indebted to Anna.
Anna, who had just arrived in Prussia, had no friends, but Louise's attitude towards her was not as stiff as others, and she was also very kind to Anna, which made Anna grateful to Louise.
"Okay, Buer, now that things are like this, you should first find a way to solve the financial hole. As for my mother and Anna, I will talk to them!"
After hearing what William said, Buer said helplessly:
"This is what we have to do, but Your Majesty, you must warn Her Royal Highness the Queen, otherwise, if this becomes a regular practice, the royal family's finances will not be enough to spend so much!"
Seeing the resentful Buer, William had no choice but to listen to what he said and nodded in agreement.
After Buell left, William immediately recruited Anna to his side
"My Queen, look at the royal family's expenses last month. Not to mention other aspects, just the salons and balls you held far exceeded the monthly financial budget by nearly three times! You
Do you know what you are doing!"
When only William and Anna were left in the room, William handed the information provided by Buell to Anna with a cold face.
William's reprimand made Anna very dissatisfied. After all, no one would want to be reprimanded for no reason, and when she took the information in William's hand and looked through it, she was very dissatisfied.
Unlike William, Anna was born in the Habsburg family that once dominated Europe. Since she was a child, Anna has been involved in these balls, salons, and cocktail parties. It can be said that when Anna was growing up, she basically did it every week.
Participate in two or three activities, and even as long as she is willing, Viennese nobles are rushing to invite her to participate in these types of activities every day, so holding these activities is completely accustomed to Anna.
But after arriving in Prussia, Anna found that the life in the Prussian ladies' circle was simply too monotonous. Although the upper class in Prussia also had dances, these dances were very simple, even in Anna's opinion, a bit crude, and such activities were not frequent.
held, at least within ten days after Anna arrived in Brandenburg, only she and William held a dance after their first arrival in Brandenburg, and there were no activities planned at other times.
This kind of life made Anna feel very boring, so after thinking that such activities could not only unite a group of noble ladies around herself, but even affect the political affairs of the entire Prussian state, Anna became happy with it.