King Arthur III of Lovia

King Arthur III of Lovia or Arthur Francis Noble III (1913 - 2007, Noble City) was the fifth monarch and fourth king of Lovia. He succeeded his brother Lucas after he was deposed. He ruled the country until he died on August 20, 2007. King Arthur III was the longest reigning monarch Lovia had ever had, reigning for as long as fifty years before he dead at the age of 94. Since the king never married and only left two illegitimate sons, their was no heir to the trone. After long discussions his nephew Dimitri Noble took over as King of Lovia and has reigned Lovia ever since.

Personal life
Arthur III was born as the second son of his legendary mother, the famous Queen Lucy. His education was taken extremely seriously by his mother the queen, who at first homeschooled her two youngest sons and then send them to a prestigious school outside Lovia, in Great Brittain. When Arthur was 18 years old he was sent off to a military acadamy, and he left the acadamy four years later as a captain, best of his class. Despite his success, he did not like the military and went to the university of Noble City were he did equally well. In 1941, Arthur became the mayor of Noble City, a position he kept for nine years until 1950.

Arthur took the trone as Arthur III after the abdication of his older brother, and ruled Lovia until his death at the age of 94 in 2007. The king had many suitors during his life, many women who desired to become the queen of Lovia. The king, however, refused to marry any of these women, whom his family had selected for him. Instead, he choose his own partner, despite his families objections. He never married her however, and thus had no legal children who had right to succeed him. By this mistress Veronica Bradly-Lashawn (1932-1994) he had twin sons George and Philip Bradly-Lashawn (1975). Arthur loved his sons dearly, but tried to keep them away from the press so they could live a peaceful life. His sons are not in the line of succession and had no ambitions whatsoever to take over the trone. When Veronica died of stomach cancer in 1994, Arthur was utterly heartbroken and refused to speak to anyone for almost a month, mourning her death. It caused a scandal in the press. After that, the king wore black clothes for almost ten years - he said it was because: 'I am a widower to the wife I could never have, a widower to the love of my life they did not allow me to marry". When his son Philip married in 1998, Arthur came to the wedding as a proud father, despite the objections of his family.

Reign
In 1957 Arthurs older brother abdicated from the trone. At the age of 44, Arthur attended the trone as Arthur III of Lovia. His reign would be the longest Lovia ever saw, lasting for as much as fifty years. The king was perfectly happy with his life as 'the eternal student', and had hoped his brother would stay king instead of him. When he called to rule Lovia, though, the King understood it was his destiny and his duty to make sure his country would do well. He took the crown and the responsibilities that came with it extremely serious. King Arthur III was known for his large language knowledge, and also for his knowledge in general. He studied a lot and was a highly educated man who studied for most of his life. He was probably the most intellectual Lovian monarch. He came forward as a member of the private Waltz Appreciation Club. Under his reign, the Lovian economy did well and Arthur also did much for Lovian culture, being a big fan of the theather and ballet. Being a great fencer, Arthur also helped to raise funds for the LFF when it was founded in 1999 by his son. The relationship of Arthur with his mother and younger brother was tense; his mother Lucy did not get along with her middle son for some reason. He also had a difficult relation to his youngest brother, yet he loved his nephew (the current King Dimitri I) and had a very close friendship with his oldest brother. In 2006 the king got ill; after a fall from his favorite horse, a fierce black stallion named Bucephalus the elderly king broke his hip. The king was told to stay in bed, and his condition quickly worsened. Surrounded by his sons, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, the old king was awaiting his death. Always a strong man, the king had lost the will to live after the death of his beloved Veronica. On his deathbed, the king announced his nephew as his heir, since he knew his sons would never be accepted by the royal family as his heirs, let alone by the Lovian public.

Interests


The king has always remained a very humble man. He never bragged about any of his many achievements and the mere thougt of arrogance was a horror to him. A hard worker, the king lead a very busy life. When he got older however, he started doing more things for himself. A keen reader the king read at least one novel a week, but if he liked one book exceptionally much he would read trough the entire night just to know how the story would end. Later in life the king would also pick up sculpting; he made statues of farm animals and pets (his horse Bucephalus being a much used subject), and also of family members and friends he liked particulary much. He also loved poetry, and was said to have been a fine poet. None of the king's poetry was ever published during his lifetime, however, because he thought it was not good enough. According to son George, the kings poems were of 'sheer brilliance', but he never dared to let many people read them. Despite the kings insecurity about his poetry skills, George published some of his father's poems in 2010 in a book titled 'Royal Poems: the brilliant writings of our most humble king'. The book was well received by the Lovian public, calling it a 'brilliant piece of art'. According to his closest friends, the king would have been much happier as an artist then he ever was as a king. His biggest wish was to dedicate his life to poetry and sculpting, but sadly this never became a reality. The affairs of state were of more importance and left the king little spare time. He would wake every day at 6.30 sharp and would not go to bed until around 23.30, if not later. To keep the monarch alert he was proscribed many pills but he rarely took them; 'a fine cup of strong Brazilian black coffee is all I need to stay awake all day', as his Royal Majesty would say. A true polyglot, the king spoke many languages: English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, German, Esperanto, Oceana, Portugese and Arabic. He spoke each language fluently and usually even got the accent right, which suprised many foreign diplomats when they met with the king.

Last years
In 2003 the king decided to grant himself some rest. He moved from the palace to a house on the countryside, a farm he called 'The King's Stable'. Here he rode his prizewinning stallion Bucephalus twice a week, through the woods and to lakes were he went fishing with family and friends. The king turned out to be a fine fisher, and also decided to give hunting a try. Quickly the king discovered that hunting was nothing for him; his kind nature made it hard for him to shoot a defenseless bird from the sky; he could hardly kill a fly after a Buddhist friend of him explained to the king it could be the reincarnation of your own mother (despite being atheist, Arthur respected the opinion of his religious friends and often took their advice if he found it meaningful). The king would take his sons and grandsons fishing, and often took his young nephew Dimitri along with them. Some fresh country air would do the boy good, as the king explained his parents. With his daughter-in-law Malia the king would also climb mountains (only going halfway up and then going down again because of his age). In 2006 disaster strook as the elder king fell from his horse and broke his hip. He said he did not fear death, because he had a clean conscience and had achieved all the goals he had set for himself. He only wished he could have lived a little bit longer to give his nephew more time to prepare for the trone and the great responsibilaties that came along with it.

Ancestry

 * Note: Lavender colored boxes: Ruling Monarch of Lovia
 * Note: Cornsilk colored boxes: civilian