History made as Queen Victoria Visits Arendelle

By Torsten, Reporter for The Arendelle Guardian

Art by @inArendelle, Arendellian royal artist 

History was made in Arendelle today as Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland arrived at our shores this afternoon.

The sovereign of the British Empire was welcomed personally by Queen Anna and a full cannon salute from Her Majesty’s flagship and General Mattias’ warships. The two monarchs will share a state dinner at the palace tonight, before being given a full tour of the kingdom tomorrow. Queen Anna will also take her to the North Mountain to visit Marshmallow and the snowgies’ home.

Victoria’s second night will be occupied entirely by a grand ball at Arendelle castle, with most of Arendelle’s political, economic, cultural, and civic elites invited to pay homage to both monarchs.

High society is alight with gossip about how Victoria will get on with Honeymaren, the new Head Liaison of Northuldra-Arendelle Affairs and Anna’s de facto foreign secretary.

Queen Victoria made only a short statement to the Arendellian press and the British reporters accompanying her delegation: “Arendelle is a beautiful kingdom and I have taken upon it myself to understand her better, as well as her monarch. I look forward to the next few days very much.”

Queen Anna, for her part, said to Arendelle’s three major papers (The Arendelle Guardian, the Snow Herald, and the Fjord Times): “It’s my honour that Queen Victoria has taken this journey to visit our kingdom. This is a promising stepping stone for a beautiful relationship between our two nations, and between Victoria and myself.”

Victoria’s visit marks a new era of Anglo-Arendellian relations and a startlingly rapid rise to international prominence for our own monarch.

Just a few months ago, Queen Anna found herself in direct confrontation with the East India Company after its private navy fired on ice traders from Bjorgman House in the South China Sea. The East India Company was caught off-guard when Anna sent her own flagship east, firing a warning broadside that was carried further than the EIC expected by her supernatural ally, the Wind Spirit Gale. The British foreign secretary, Lord Palmerston, moved to negotiate with Anna, signing a concordat that stripped the EIC of its monopolies and forbade it from competing with Bjorgman House.

Queen Anna has refrained from taking a triumphalist stance against Great Britain, emphasising that she only wanted the EIC to answer for its belligerence. However, she has gained the attention of many larger nations (some of them littoral empires with vast overseas colonies) for not just her policy towards Northuldra, but also her lobbying for a grand alliance strong enough to resist the imperial ambitions of empires like Britain. It is in this backdrop that Victoria and Anna began writing letters to each other, culminating in a mutual interest in the other and a promise to meet each other.

That day has come. Europe is watching closely.