WesWorld

The German Governments expresses its deepest condolences on the death of King Alexander. The German ambassador in The Hague called upon the Foreign Minister to express German sympathies personally.

The Government of the Chinese Empire expresses, via its ambassador in The Hague, Wu Sangui, its deepest condolences on the death of King Alexander.

14 November

The Royal Family has confirmed that the body of King Alexander will be flown back to the Netherlands for burial at the Dutch Royal Family crypt in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft.
The date for the funeral is Friday 21 November. This day will be a special public holiday in Kongo and Ubangi Shari.

21 November
King Alexander was buried in the Dutch Royal Family crypt in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft today. His brother and sister, King William and Queen Juliaana were present along with their children and other relatives. Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg also attended as did many Heads of State and Royal Figures from across Europe and the wider world.

4 December
The Luchtmacht has taken delivery of the first batch of production Fokker D.XXVIII jet-powered fighters. During 1945, based on experiences with the experimental D.XXIIIS, Fokker began designing a new purpose-designed jet-powered fighter. In overall layout it resembles the British de Havilland Vampire and is powered by a 3,000lb Rayton Swazi centrifugal turbojet engine. The first of six prototypes first flew on 14 November 1946 and a pre-production batch was built during mid-1947. The definitive production version has a pressurised cockpit equipped with a Danish ejector seat.


14 December
After extensive trials at De Vlijt Air Base the Testing Department of the Luchtmacht has released its report to the Luchtmacht Procurement Branch. Its recommendation is to purchase the M.S.472/474 Vanneau as the new advanced trainer for the Air Force.

11 December
The newly formed 27th Mijnenveger Flotilla at Amsterdam took command of its new craft today, four minesweepers of the CMS class.

19 December
The cruisers CL-17 Ameland and CL-18 Terschelling have left Soerabaja today to join the 2nd Cruiser Division at Paramaribo to give the forces there a slightly more modern cruiser force.

21 December
Two more of the Province Class cruisers have joined the fleet. CL-37 Borneo and CL-38 Nieuw Guinea commissioned with the 1st Cruiser Division at Den Helder today. CL-38 was laid down as the Ubangi-Shari, but in view of developments there the ship has been renamed. These two ships have replaced the CL-25 Zwarte Arend and CL-26, Zwarte Luuew which have transferred to the 5th Cruiser Division at Soerabaja.

28 December
After steaming from Paramaribo, the old cruisers CL-13 Celebes and CL-14 Papua arrived in Amsterdam, presenting a sorry state with rust and obsolescence clearly evident, today. After tying to the quayside, the crews paraded and these hard-serving ships finally decommissioned. Both ships will be disposed of.

30 December
The 8th Destroyer Flotilla at Den Helder has taken command of two more new destroyers, the Z-97 and Z-98 which completes the re-equipment of this unit. The previous ships Z-69, Z-70, Z-71 and Z-72 transferred to the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla at Batavia at the end of October. Also today, at Medan the new submarine O-21 joined her sisters with the 2nd Submarine Flotilla to maintain the Indic Fleet’s long-range submarine strike force.

'Luuew'? I assume you mean 'Leeuw' (= 'Lion').

Most probably just my typo, or maybe Kirks back in the day.

December in the Kongo and Ubangi Shari was an uneasy period.
Since the departure of the King the two local governments kept running as if nothing had happened. The Dutch settlers, worried that the fragile situation in Ubangi Shari might once descend into chaos and fearing perhaps the Kongolese military might seize its own chance sought added security. The remaining Dutch forces were put on alert and in mid-December a chartered liner docked at Moando and disgorged 3,000 Marines and equipment to be on the safe side.

King Charles had not carried out the widely assumed action of adding his dead brother's titles to his own. Indeed he realised that the political situation would never countenance that. The constitutional dilemma was who should be head of state of the two nations. The choice was to ask King Charles to take the throne, which would not be universally popular and might show the government was weak and invite some kind of coup or public protest. A more distant relative was another choice but there was little practical point in that. Elevating a local tribal king to the status of a European king would be an audacious move but would stoke Dutch resentment and the Crown might act to protect its investments. Also, choosing such a local ruler would be impossible without inviting strife from other envious and dissatisfied ethic groups. The more radical path was to revoke the rule of a colonial power and declare a republic and install a president. That was sure to invite Dutch counter-action and could spark a major crisis if not war. In any case who would make an ideal president, even elections could be bitter affairs and the thorny issue of white versus black rule was still acute whatever the title of the Head of State.

There was even debate whether it was time to end the artificial separation of Ubangi Shari from the Kongo and unite them as one nation. This would solve many problems of investment and uneven development and the rather artificial political groupings it created. Even so, progress would never be easy and it was no fast solution or even proven possibility. So the talking continued all month, in committees, special parliamentary sittings, local political clubs, pubs and in homes across the two nations.

Rumour and intrigue was no less in metropolitan Holland where the press treaded carefully but everyone sensed a constitutional crisis would erupt sooner or later during 1948. The most pessimistic (or optimistic if you happened to be anti-colonial) was a domino effect that could overtake the East Indies and all Dutch possessions as the pressures of self-rule erupted. On the other hand a brutal repression seemed unthinkable, especially after the pains taken to relieve the Ubangis from N'Dofa's military dictatorship. Some still wondered about his whereabouts and what part he might yet play, while dark rumours about the Kings Investigative Service refused to die.

Speaking OOC (of course) 8)

The constitutional situation in Kongo is quite thorny, and represents a potential powder keg; I am not certain that adding Ubangi Shari to the mix will solve more problems than it might create. Ubangi Shari has just undergone a rebellion which – for the moment at least – has been put down, but at the cost of power sharing that Dutch settlers might not fully appreciate. Moreover, folding Ubangi Shari into Kongo might bring old ethnic differences among Kongolese tribes to the surface – a la the Katanga secession in 1960.

But the options for a sufficiently subservient but acceptable successor to the late Alexander will be difficult. Did Kirk leave any notes somewhere on the fate of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (the historical Belgian royal family)? If extant, perhaps they might have a role to play. I agree that elevating a native tribal aristocrat to the kingship would not be acceptable to the Dutch public and might not be acceptable to the international community (i.e. – the individual would be seen as a puppet of King Charles).

Going for a republic with any sort of democratic constitution would leave the resident Dutch population fearful of being swamped, and international financiers would be unwilling to risk further investment without cast iron guarantees from someone they can trust.

An interesting situation – I look forward to its resolution.

:D