Prince Lucius, Duke of Lyressa

Prince Lucius
Duke of Lyressa
Royal Chancellor of Belfras
Tenure	4 August 1945 – 18 October 1974
Predecessor	The Duke of Orestes
Successor	Gregory Halbert
Monarch	Georgio I
Born	(1903-07-07)7 July 1903 Questros Palace, Thessalona, Belfras
Died	18 September 1996(1996-09-18) (aged 93) Sacred Catherine Medical Institute, Thessalona
Spouse	Grand Princess Anna Dorothea (m. 1922)
Issue	Princess Faustina Prince Marcellus, Duke of Lyressa Prince Servius, Duke of Feston Prince Marcus, Duke of Luricon Princess Camilla
Full name Lucius Michael Constantinus
House	Dimitrios
Father	Philippos I of Belfras
Mother	Marina of Sydalon
Religion	Fabrian Catholic
Military career
Allegiance	Belfras
Service/branch	Federation Navy Military Council
Years of service	1921-1944
Rank	Fleet Admiral
Unit	Classis Leandros
Commands held	F.N.S Tiger (CA-442) F.N.S Sovereign (CV-32)
Battles/wars	Belfro-Mutulese War of 1928

Prince Lucius, Duke of Lyressa (born Lucius Michael Constantine; 7 July 1903 - 18 September 1996) was a member of the Belfrasian royal family. He was the third child and second son of the Sovereign Prince Philippos. He was the first member of the family born following the independence of Belfras at the start of the century and also the first to be born in Questros Palace, which had previously been the residence of the Latin Emperor when they were in the country. He served his country in the Armed Forces until his honorable discharge in 1944, following which he served as Chancellor for his nephew, Georgio, who had succeeded Philippos in 1924 at the age of 12. His tenure as Chancellor oversaw the country's involvement in the Social War in Latium and a large number of social and economic reforms that shaped the country through the middle half of the century. One of his largest achievements as chancellor was the nationalisation of the country's health sector and the law that made getting treatment free. His 30 year tenure as the Chancellor ended in 1974, at which point he retired to his estates in the west of the country until his death in 1996 at the age of 93.

At his birth, Prince Lucius was the second in line to the throne, at his death he had become XXX in line. He was praised by his nephew on his retirement as being the backbone of the Federation in it's maturing years.

Early life

Lucius was born at Questros Palace on 7 July 1903, the first of the royal family to be born at the palace since the independence of the country 3 years earlier. He was the third child and second son of the Sovereign Prince Philippos and was baptised at the Cathedral of Saint Peter on 23 July 1903. He was 20 years younger than his brother, Nicholaus who was still settling into the position of Hereditary Prince. With his father attending foreign visits to secure the independent country's relations, some of Lucius' early life saw him looked after by both his brother and by a governess.

On 15 March 1912 at the age of 7 Lucius lost his brother in the Belfro-Mutulese war of 1911, the birth of Nicholaus' son, Georgio one month later caused Lucius to be, for a month, the Hereditary Prince. The rest of Lucius' education at Questros concluded without incident and he was sent to the Eredid academy in Mondria where he took up horse riding and polo for academic sports during his studies. He spend six months in Latium on an exchange program to the University of Ascanium in Latium.

Military career

At the outbreak of the Belfro-Mutulese War of 1928, Lucius had been assigned as First Officer aboard the armoured cruiser F.N.S Tiger (CA-442) and participated in the opening battles of the war. His commanding officer, Captain Gregory Hornicus, had personally selected Lucius as the ship had been the post of Lucius' Midshipman tenure and the captain had picked up on his command abilities. On 15 August 1929 Tiger had been escorting supply ships with two cruisers and three destroyers. One of the other cruisers, Boxer, reported to Tiger that a periscope had been spotted by the destroyer Aaron Paller and the destroyer was engaged in destroying what was now identified to be a Mutulese submarine. Tiger responded by manoeuvring to the opposite side of the convoy and spaced itself, as in the first Belfro-Mutulese war wolf-pack tactics of the Mutulese submarines often lured the escorts away. Shortly after 1:42PM port lookouts reported torpedoes in the water coming from the convoy, a probably missed shot by the submarine being attacked. Rough seas had reduced sighting to a too-short distance for evasive actions, and the ship was struck by the torpedo which failed to detonate but caused minor flooding that was brought under control.

Until 4 March 1930 Tiger had been escorting convoys, and was reassigned to Battlegroup Ionnis led by the battleship Cronos which was to engage Mutulese naval and air forces near Ayeli. The battle of Korreg'tu Atoll saw Tiger sink two Mutulese destroyers before being struck by several rounds and two torpedo-bomber air attacks, which caused massive flooding and the death of Captain Hornicus after the bridge was strafed by an aircraft. Lucius, now in command of Tiger, withdrew the crippled cruiser to the Battleship Cronos which provided fire support until Lucius made the decision to abandon the cruiser, which was now suffering uncontrollable flooding and had lost it's ability to steer. Of the ships 1,100-strong compliment, 542 managed to escape the vessel including Lucius when, during evacuations attempts to vent steam before water entered the boilers was unsuccessful, causing an explosion that ruptured the hull and caused the vessel to capsize.

Following the sinking of Tiger and a period of rest, Lucius was promoted to Captain and given command of the carrier F.N.S Sovereign (CV-32) which then took part in the Ayeli Landings in response to Mutulese aggression against the state. The command kept Lucius from direct combat but kept him with the main battlegroups, attending further battles including the Battle of Hamik, the last battle of the war.

Chancellorship

Lucius left the military in 1944, having conducted a 23 year career honourably. In his forties, Lucius had planned to spend a few years quietly in his estates with his children and horses with one of his first monetary projects being the construction of a private yacht with which he intended to take his family on a tour of the Periclean and Ozeros. A year following his departure, however, he had been approached by his nephew the Sovereign Prince Georgio, who had been in power since 1924 but had just suffered the death of his chancellor, The Duke of Orestes from a short-term illness. Georgio had personally asked his uncle to accept the role of Chancellor, an executive position that would place him as the second most powerful man in the country behind Georgio himself. He had accepted it, reportedly on the grounds that he would help the Sovereign Prince through the Social War, a civil war in Latium that had started in April that year, and then assist him in finding a replacement.

On his assumption of office the Federation had already pledged support for Empress Diana and had begun combat operations both at sea and on land. In a televised speech, Lucius used his first address as chancellor to state that "..all enemies of the Empress were enemies of the Federation", with all efforts to be made to secure their ancestral homeland back to the Imperial crown. In a private meeting that day with the Latin ambassador to the Federation, Lucius had, with the approval of Georgio, proposed to expand the military force inside Latium from the expeditionary group led by The Duke of Eunos the Field Marshal of the army. The increase in manpower, approved in September - A month after his assumption of office - resulted in an expeditionary force of 50,000 soldiers to be deployed across the Salacian Ocean.

While the war in Latium would last until 1947 and despite not being in office when the Federation had joined the war, Lucius quickly came up against opposition for policies both in protest and in the senate, with senators across the hall demanding that the Federation withdraw and focus on matters in Norumbia, where a growing Elatia put fears of another war to the front of the newspaper. An address by him in November, which marked the point when the deployment in Latium had now reached 60,000 soldiers and the recent loss of a destroyer with all hands, laid the foundations of the Home Guard, a component of the military's reserve that would "..utilise in emergencies reserve, volunteer and conscription-based forces for alleviation of military strength in times of emergency, including war."

Following the end of the Social War Lucius had assured Georgio that his previous insistence of serving briefly was now not an issue and he was happy to maintain his position. Starting in spring 1948 Lucius toured the Federation, now post-war Latium and visited allies overseas with his return to duties in Thessalona resuming in November that year. His tour, he told reporters in his later years, was to outline others expectations of the Federation and how they might be managed with considerations of their own taken into true account. The rising cost of medical bills, seen as a consequence to the Social War, increasing manufacturing costs from abroad and the new import tax caused Lucius to begin the foundations of nationalising the health sector and guaranteeing citizens the right to free medical treatment.

Domestic issues starting in the 1950s shifted Lucius' focus from international and social service issues to one of a deeper, ingrained social aspect to the Belfrasian people. The crusader spirit, forged from the crusades and brought back to life in both the Belfro-Mutulese war of 1911 and 1928 still raged, with sentiments high regarding issues from the first war. One issue Lucius had to contend with was laws created by his father against the worship of the White Path in Belfras and angers believers had in respects to the Belfrasian destruction of K'utzmil in Mutul, a holy site to the White Path. Between him and Georgio, Lucius co-signed the Freedom of Religious Practices act in 1954 which allowed the White Path to be a legal religion in the country and repaid the Mutulese the costs of rebuilding the site.

Lucius' Chancellorship was not without it's darker moments, the rising Socialist movements in the country had been repressed - brutally at times. In 1948 and 1952 Lucius personally signed orders that saw a large number of people imprisoned for protesting for the removal of the monarchy and is in some circuits believed to have been the main cause of the 1993 Orestes Terror Attack, with critics saying his policies toward the treatment of Socialists in the country left pro-Republicans with little choice. In an interview given in 1967 Lucius had famously stated that "..the Federation would burn before it became a republic." Lucius eventually left his position as chancellor in 1974, retiring to his estates in western Belfras.

Death

Lucius died in the afternoon of 18 September 1996 at the age of 93 after suffering from pneumonia which had been attributed to old age. His sons Marcus and Servius had been at his bedside when he died.

The Royal household announced his death two days following his death on 20 September, to give the royal family time to ensure his friends had all been told personally before it became public. His funeral took place on Friday, 11 October 1996 which had been declared an emergency bank holiday by Sovereign Prince Nicholaus, who led mourners at his funeral. The ceremony, which took place at Questros Palace and the Cathedral of Saint Peter, had been attended by a group of 20,000 and a audience in the cathedral of 1,900. At the conclusion of the funeral Lucius' coffin was escorted out of Thessalona where it was transported to his estates in western Belfras, where he was buried in a plot of his choosing in his will.

In his life he had publicly enjoyed active hobbies such as football and his equestrian activities, which later on in his life evolved into raising horses for sport and leisure. He had put aside his own needs twice, to join the military and serve a fruitful career and to then serve as his nephews Chancellor for most of Georgio's reign.

Titles, styles, honors and arms

Styles of address

Styles of The Prince Lucius
Reference style	His Royal Highness
Spoken style	Your Highness
Alternative style	His Highness

• 7 July 1903 - 18 September 1996: His Royal Highness The Prince Lucius
• 15 October 1920 - 18 September 1996: His Royal Highness The Duke of Lyressa

As a Belfrasian Prince and a member of the House of Dimitrios, Lucius did not utilize a surname. In his military career and on occasion as Chancellor Lucius had to utilise a surname, during which he took on the Dimitrios name. Despite this, it is applicable for the surname of all children of the Sovereign to simply be "of Belfras". For ceremonial and formal purposes, all children of the Monarch - with exception to the heir apparent - are entitled to the rank of "prince" or "princess" after their Christian name followed by the territorial designation "of Belfras." As such Lucius was known in his life as "Prince Lucius, the Duke of Lyressa."

Honours

• Belfras: Grand Cross of the order of Arbe
• Belfras: Knight of the Order of the Blue Eagle

Foreign honours

• Latium: Knight of the Ancient Equestrian Order
• Perateia: Knight of the Order of Golden Fleece
• Sydalon: Knight of the Order of the Holy Lance

Issue

Name	Birth	Death	Marriage		Their children
			Date	Spouse
Princess Faustina	24 November 1924	5 August 2018 (age 95)	Married-date	Married-Partner	Children
Prince Marcellus, Duke of Lyressa	2 May 1926	12 April 2004 (age 77)	Married-date	Married-Partner	Children
Prince Servius, Duke of Feston	(1935-01-12) 12 January 1935		Married-date	Married-Partner	Children
Prince Marcus, Duke of Luricon	(1944-05-02) 2 May 1944		Married-date	Married-Partner	Prince Constantine of Belfras Prince Philip of Belfras Princess Cecilia of Belfras
Princess Camilla	(1948-07-12) 12 July 1948		Married-date	Married-Partner	Children