Looking at William's confident look, Lena quickly calmed down. The title of nobility had been returned to her family. As long as William did not blame her for scheming against the old earl and felt that his mother was a vicious woman, Lena really did not care about the rest.
"It's good that you understand. Let's go quickly, it's impolite to be late." Lena held her son's arm. This time, it took them less than ten minutes to arrive at the Platinum Khan Palace.
Before they got off the carriage, they saw Wilson, who was in a neat suit, standing outside the main entrance waiting for them.
The carriage stopped. William got off the carriage and extended his hand to shake hands with Wilson, who was full of smiles. Then, he helped Lena down the carriage.
"Good morning, Madam Devonshire." Wilson smiled and greeted Lena. Lena glared at William and curtsied to Wilson.
William rolled his eyes. His eye-rolling was quickly captured by the camera and passed to the eyes of thousands of spectators.
Many of the spectators who were mothers were immediately moved by William's eye-rolling. On the other hand, many loyal supporters of the Royal Family were dissatisfied that William did not bow to Wilson, who was of a higher status than him.
In their hearts, William was already an earl. Even if he could not bow to him, he should at least nod to him.
What was even more unbearable for them was that William actually extended his hand to Wilson first, and Wilson did not look unhappy at all as he shook William's hand.
It was as if William was the Archduke of Cambridge and Wilson was the Earl of Oxford.
However, the thoughts of these people did not affect William at all. Those who wanted him to bow to Wilson could go to hell. If he could really be promoted to the rank of Duke, he would definitely give up the title of Duke if Philip asked him to kneel and bow to him.
However, what annoyed William was that his eye-rolling emoji had become a meme on the Internet the next day. Many people would use this emoji that he wished he could delete immediately to mock others in the future.
Seeing Lena curtsied to him, Wilson smiled and reached out to shake hands with Lena. Then, he immediately helped Lena up and whispered something in her ear, which made Lena laugh. She even patted his arm as she laughed.
This made the people in front of the TV very curious about what Wilson said to make Lena so happy. The way she patted his arm seemed to be comforting him.
Unfortunately, when Lena and Wilson were talking, their backs were facing the camera. Even if they wanted to read their lips, they could not. However, when they saw William scratching his eyebrows helplessly, everyone guessed that it must have something to do with William. Perhaps Wilson was complaining to Lena about William.
"Let's go, mother. Don't be fooled by this kid." William looked at Wilson helplessly. You bastard, you actually told Lena that you wanted Lena to protect him. You even spread rumors that William would definitely find trouble with him after today.
"Okay, okay. William, you can't bully Wilson. He's two years younger than you. You have to give in to him."
Give in to him? He rolled his eyes and ignored his mother and Wilson who were talking and laughing. He took the lead to walk to the main door and was led to the hall by the old butler whom he had met a few days ago.
To William's surprise, the entire hall was almost filled with people except for the two-meter passage in the middle.
When everyone saw William coming in, they took the initiative to clap for him. Two knights in standard knight attire and carrying swords walked to William and saluted. They extended their hands and made an inviting gesture to him.
He followed behind the two knights and looked around. Soon, he realized that most of the people in the crowd were the people he had saved in Westminster Cathedral a few days ago.
When he walked to the front row, he saw the barrel of Kellner Bacon from France and the barrel of Agnes from Germany. He even saw the Grand Duke of Devon who was rumored to be in poor health.
After nodding at the three people who were smiling, William stood in front of Philip. He did not even look at the cushion with a small armrest under his feet.
Of course, William knew the purpose of the cushion and the small armrest. The cushion was for nobles to kneel. The small armrest on the right of the cushion was for the kneeling people to hold onto the armrest so that they could maintain their balance when kneeling. This was to prevent the King from slapping the nobles' shoulders with the knight's sword and getting cut by the sword.
"Well, even if you don't want to follow the tradition, you should at least lower your head. I'm not as tall as you, Earl of Devonshire," Philip said with a smile.
The appearance of the cushion made William a little confused. He was only inheriting the title of Earl of Oxford today, not a new one. Not only did he not need to slap the sword on his shoulders, but he also did not need to move the cushion to kneel.
William could accept the bow. After all, it was very common in modern times. He took half a step back and only bent his waist about 30 degrees.
Many people present wanted to laugh but did not dare to.
If some people did not mind, there would definitely be others who did. They did not stand out only because it was inconvenient to question in this situation.
Looking at William who was bending his waist, Philip was a little hesitant.
However, when he saw the young face in front of him, he remembered that this child not only stood in front of him to save him, but also earned a net worth of 30 billion US dollars before the age of 20.
Philip quickly put down the scruples in his heart. The benefits of roping in William to the nobles were far greater than the superficial courtesy of kneeling in front of him.
He thought silently in his heart, the difficulty facing the royal family was no longer the problem of kneeling or not, but the problem of whether they could survive for a long time.
Now that William, a super money-maker, had joined, from today onwards, people all over the world would have to re-examine the English aristocratic system.
Understanding this, Philip turned around and picked up the knight's sword from the tray behind him. He solemnly patted William's shoulder twice and said.
"William Devonshire, in the name of the King, with the recommendation of the newly appointed Prime Minister Richard and all the cabinet members, I officially confer you the title of Duke of Oxford."
"What?" William was greatly shocked. He could not help but raise his eyelids to look at Philip, who had a solemn expression on his face.
Philip continued, "In recognition of your outstanding contribution to England and the entire capitalist world twelve days ago, from today onwards, you are the most trusted and respected partner of all Englishmen."
Putting down the sword in his hand, Philip looked at everyone in the hall and asked, "Do you have any objections to this?"
No one spoke for a while. Satisfied, Philip said, "In that case, William Devonshire, congratulations on officially becoming the twenty-fourth hereditary Duke of the British Isles."
After saying that, Philip picked up the Duke's round hat from the tray held by an archbishop and personally put it on William's head.
The real title of Duke fell on his head. This made William, who was unprepared, a little confused. He only reacted when Philip patted him on the shoulder and bowed in a daze.
Fortunately, when he saw the cushion used to kneel under his eyes, William's dazed head came back to his senses. He immediately straightened his slightly bent legs.
Philip and the people behind him who could see his actions all laughed softly.
"You're very lucky, child." Philip patted William's shoulder again and said, "If it weren't for the fact that most of the people in this hall have been saved by you, you wouldn't have been able to become a Duke even if you had the support of the leaders of other countries.
What's even more fortunate is that the newly appointed Prime Minister of England, Richard, nominated me to confer you the title of Duke. Otherwise, even if I and everyone here agreed, you still wouldn't have been able to become a Duke. So, child, you're not really God's illegitimate child, are you? "
"Haha." William spread his hands. "I can only ask the one in heaven."
"Well, I might have to wait a long time to find out," Philip said with a smile. "Richard asked me to tell you that he and you are even."
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