A Royal Visit: Belmont - Arendaal

[Arendaal]

Prime Minister's Office
Emyn Arnen, Arendaal​

As Prime Minister [WIKI]Svea Bjornsen[/WIKI] got off the phone with the Head of the Aren Intelligence Service, Sverker Velde, her expression was grave.* She looked thoughtful for a moment before regaining her composure and lifting the receiver of the phone on her exquisite mohogany desk. The Queen of Belmont was due to arrive shortly and both Svea and [WIKI]King Edvard V of Arendaal[/WIKI] were going to be on hand at [WIKI]Emyn Arnen[/WIKI]'s International Airport to welcome her. Along with the customary guard of honour, of course, and various officials from the Aren Government and Belmontien Embassy. Svea's government had high hopes for the meeting. Better ties with Belmont would be welcome, especially business ties, and she was determined to help them along.

"Is everything ready?", the young Prime Minister inquired of her somewhat flustered personal secretary Lars Pedierson.
"Yes, Prime Minister. The King is about to leave Karlheim Palace and will meet us at the airport", Lars replied hurriedly.
"Good. Let's go."

Svea rose and strode out of her expensively furnished office. Dressed in a crisp black [WIKI]Chanel[/WIKI] suit, her blonde hair swept up in a loose bun, she looked stunning and polished.

Once the Prime Minister and her entourage arrived at the airport, they did not need to wait long for the arrival of the Aren King and Crown Prince Soren. The 25 year old Soren was as blue eyed and handsome as ever, charming any woman who came within a fifty mile radius of himself. Svea suppressed a chuckle as she watched him flirt idly with one of the Belmontien Embassy's staff. It wasn't difficult to see why he'd been brought along. Soren had 'people skills' which were virtually prophetic. He continued to deploy them at unsuspecting ladies in the VIP lounge as the Prime Minister and King spoke quietly in a corner, while they awaited the arrival of Queen Diana I.


* A reference to this rp,

You must be registered for see links

, the details of which Svea won't disclose to anyone except her cabinet and King.

 

[Serenierre]

Emyn Arnen International Airport

The Queen was nervous, after all this was here first diplomatic visit. As a child she had come to Arendaal many times, mainly with her grandfather, Charles X, and her father. The northern country had historical ties to Belmont, or rather the two Royal Families had a long history together.

The 22 year old Queen came through the jetway and was met by the Belmontien ambassador to Emyn Arnen, who guided her to where the King, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Arendaal were waiting.

The ambassador of Belmont said to Diana, "Your Majesty... The King of Arendaal."

"King Edvard" she smiled at her Aren counterpart, who was, technically, her nephew. "Pleasure to see you again." she shook his outstretched hand firmly. She had last seen him in 2002, when she herself was fifteen and hadn't ascended to the throne. Since then, she noticed, he had aged, although only slightly.

The ambassador then guided the Queen to the person next in line, "Your Majesty, The Crown Prince Soren"

"Crown Prince Soren" she smiled and shook his hand. She had to admit he was rather good looking, although he looked better in photographs, as did everyone else.

She turned to her left and spoke warmly "And you must be Prime Minister Bjornsen. Pleasure to meet you as well."​

 

[Arendaal]

Svea smiled at the young Queen, “Welcome to Arendaal, Your Majesty”.

And it was quite a welcome, one had to admit. Everyone had turned up in their best, the Guard of Honour had lined the red carpet rolled out between the plane and the entrance to the VIP lounge, saluting the Queen and standing to attention as a marching band further along played the Belmontien National Anthem. Appropriately adorable children had handed the Queen an elegant bouquet of flowers as she exited the plane, and the King, Crown Prince and Prime Minister had greeted her warmly.

It was, all in all, quite a picture, Svea thought twenty minutes later, seated in the King’s limousine as the official motorcade zoomed down the streets of the beautiful Aren capital towards Karlheim Palace (where the talks would be held). King Edvard and the Crown Prince sat next to each other with Svea and her chief aide, Lars Pedierson, opposite.

Lars was briefing them on the talking points the Aren and Belmontien Governments had agreed to raise, including setting up more trade links, increased exports of Aren Oil to Belmont, cultural exchange programs for university students, etc. Following the discussions, Royal Banquet would be held in the evening in the Queen’s honour.

Svea nodded as Lars spoke, slightly distracted by the call she had received from the Chief of Intelligence Services about the situation in Batavie. As they entered into the Palace King Edvard chatted easily with his much younger Royal counterpart. “If I may suggest, my dear, that I show you to your chambers now and give you some time to rest and freshen up before talks begin. You must have had a tiring journey.”

As they spoke, Edvard studied the Queen’s expressions, her movements. She was clearly nervous, but hiding it well. She would get better at it with more practice, he knew. He left her and her fairly large entourage at the doors of their apartments, virtually an entire wing of the Palace had been given over to housing the Queen and the various officials who accompanied her.

Svea Bjornsen and several members of her cabinet followed the King to his office where they would wait until the Belmont delegation was ready for talks.

 

[Serenierre]

Karlheim Palace
Emyn Arnen

So far, Diana had been greeted very warmly and enjoyed the entire ceremony at the airport. But now, she sat in one of the grand sitting rooms of Karlheim Palace with the senior members of her entourage. The seven people sat discussing what was on the agenda. As had been decided beforehand, the Queen would raise up the issue of exporting Belmontien coal and the possibility of a FTA (Free Trade Agreement) between the two countries. For Paris, these talks were primarily economic ones.

For quite some time, Paris had been hoping to get some sort of special deal on the Aren oil shipments and many in Paris wanted to give Arendaal full access to the Belmontien arms industry.After, about an hour of discussing, the Queen and the delegation headed out to meet the Aren officials. ​

 

[Arendaal]

King's Private Study,
Karlheim Palace

As the representatives of Belmont’s government were holding discussions of their own, King Edvard V, Prime Minister Svea Bjornsen and the Aren Defense Minister, Magnus van der Berg, sat in the King’s private office, discussing the situation in Batavie with grave faces.

A time later, once the PM and Defense Minister had been dispatched to make a quick phone call to the Aren Intelligence Services, the Crown Prince Soren was announced and walked into his father’s office.

“The Belmontien delegation is ready for the talks, I gather” he told the King.
Edvard V nodded, put down a gilded pen he was holding and rose from his desk.
“What do you think of her?” Soren asked.
King Edvard raised an eyebrow carefully. It is said that he could accomplish more with one raised eyebrow than most people can with two of them and a lifetime of practice.
“I’m surmising from your tone, Soren, that you’re referring to Her Majesty the Queen”, he replied, obviously faintly annoyed at Soren’s casual manner.

The Prince gave his father a sheepish smile, it was a smile he used to get out of being reprimanded by virtually anyone, even his formidable father.

Edvard sighed and continued. “She’s a pleasant enough girl, if a little too young for the role. If she can survive the next hour of talks I’ll think her very well suited indeed.”


Hall of Pieter II, Karlheim Palace
Some time later, the King, the Prime Minister, the cabinet and a select few important CEOs, waited patiently in one of Karlheim Palace’s many great state rooms for the arrival of their Belmontien colleagues. Gustav Svensen, the new CEO of Royal StatOil, the massive Aren state owned company, the largest in the country and one of the biggest in Scandinavia (possibly Europe) sat two seats down from Svea Bjornsen at the long discussion table. It was used for government meetings and talks now, but the imposing room had once been a dining hall intended to seat over a hundred guests.

Belmont’s delegation was promptly announced, entered the hall lead by their Queen and seated themselves on the opposite side of the long table. The talks began.

 

[Serenierre]

Hall of Pieter II, Karlheim Palace
Emyn Arnen

During the hour, or so, the Queen had consulted her Privy Councillors, the Belmontien High Commissioner had informed The Queen of the situation in neighboring Batavie. The Queen had, since the Plantard government's days of embargo and active hostility, received almost daily reports from the Institut de Sécurité l'État and had been up to date on the activities of the Belmontien agents in the nordic state. This was something which had to be discussed, the Queen had thought.

As the Belmontien delegation, numbering twenty three in all, entered the State Hall, the Queen walked effortlessly, with grace and elegance and took her seat. This was a big thing, there were quite a few people here. It was clear, the Aren meant business. She started to feel nervous again but a reassuring glance from the Lord Chancellor, Lord Jean Claude Chauvelin, was enough to calm the twenty two year old Queen.

After the official introduction and the introductory comments, The Queen got straight to business. Speaking in a soft and gentle tone, she began "Well let me start by saying that the focus of my trip is to solidify our long standing alliances and to strengthen economic, defense and diplomatic ties." confidently the young queen spoke into the mic. "I have been told that one of the things on your agenda, is the matter of exporting oil to us. Let's begin with this."

*****​

Lord Chancellor Chauvelin quickly scribbled a note and folded it tightly three times and held onto it in his fist. When the time came, he would pass the note, somehow, to the Aren Foreign Minister. What Chauvelin wanted to discuss had to be done discreetly and privately, away from prying eyes.

​

 

[Arendaal]

ooc: sorry, sorry, sorry for the delay

IC:

Hall of Pieter II, [WIKI]Karlheim Palace[/WIKI]
Emyn Arnen​

Prime Minister Bjornsen briefly but concisely outlined the points which Arendaal wanted to make during the talks. She began with the standard proposal of increasing oil exports to Belmont three fold over the next eighteen-months and touched on other topics: encouragement of Aren and Belmontien companies to set up shop in each others states, greater cultural and educational exchanges and further opening up domestic markets to the goods of each state.

While listening to Svea Bjornsen, Aren Foreign Minister Ludvig Håkonsen was distracted by thoughts of the deteriorating situation in Batavie. He also could not help but notice Lord Chancellor Chauvelin's demeanour. He was perfectly composed but somehow it was clear that he was tense. As the delegates decided to break for coffee after an hour of talks, Håkonsen strode towards Chauvelin and extended his hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Lord Chancellor."

 

[Serenierre]

"Mr. Håkonsen" the Lord Chancellor greeted him. "Mr. Foreign Minister, I wish to discuss the current situation in Batavie. It indeed does concern us greatly and I wish to hear what you think of the situation."

 

[Arendaal]

Håkonsen nodded knowingly and glanced at his Prime Minister discreetly. He had her sanction to conduct talks in private, if needs be, and this seemed an opportune moment.

"Perhaps, sir, if you would step this way, we could have a word in private before talks resume?"

Håkonsen gestured at a side door and nodded at a suited guard standing before it. The guard opened the door and the men stepped inside. It was a small office and study with a small gilded fireplace replete with a lit fir. Those assembled in the conference room barely noticed their absence...

 

[Serenierre]

The Lord Chancellor started speaking once both were comfortably seated. "Mr. Håkonsen, the situation in Batavie is not to our liking. What do you say on the situation?"

 

[Arendaal]

Håkonsen answered slowly, carefully.

"Naturally we are concerned about an unstable situation so close to our borders. Unrest is never desirable, of course, Lord Chancellor, but in such circumstances," he continued, "..we must take into consideration whether a democratic state of whatever leaning might not be preferable to a communist neighbour. We wouldn't dream of violating our neutrality by actively aiding any unrest, but if the regime were too change in favour of a democratic movement... well, let us say that we could not help but welcome it."

He studied the Lord Chancellor's face briefly. "But what is the opinion of your Government sir?"

 

[Serenierre]

"Well, we do agree with what you have said. But the way change is coming concerns us. Insurgency and terrorism will only bring about tyranny. We are also concerned for Arendaal. Were civil war to break out, we expect countless refugees will pour into this country and they might cause problems here."

 

[Arendaal]

Håkonsen sighed. "Indeed sir, for a time the refugee situation may become very messy. But Batavian refugees have been getting through our southern border seeking asylum almost since the communists came to power. I have no doubt that if a democratic state is established, refugees will flock back to their homes in droves."

"There is of course, the economic situation to consider as well. I'm sure a new democratic capitalist market and more amenable government in Batavie would be considered good news in Paris?"