Following the fall of the anti-republican movement with the centrist Liberal Republican Party accepting the presence of the Emperor, John Wilbur has chosen to resign from politics. The moderate Wilburist sector of the party that had replaced the extreme Chesterist wing had begun to slowly unravel with its members beginning to question whether Fascism could truly survive for much longer before the Northern Council would be forced to declare war, with tensions building between the Emperor and Wilbur regarding foreign policy. The Handsonites, the HFU's imperial wing, had thus surged in the party, with Wilbur deciding to hand the leadership to the young Duke William. Duke William Handson's grandfather was a member of the HPP, with William's father being a member of Hitch's HFU, and with William himself now being the leader of the new Hosian Imperial Union, a statist party that combines some of the fascist and populist ideology of their predecessor parties.
Duke William gave a speech in Fort William outside his mansion to a crowd of nearly 3 million HFU supporters, who had come at the invitation of Wilbur. The following is an except of the speech:
"In our new era we have had fascism - and it has served its purpose. We now need a return to normalcy, a return to a great Empire, a return to peace, love, and pride in our nation. We stand firmly against the socialists, those who question the fabric of our great nation, and those who question our Empire. TODAY IS A DAY OF NATIONAL REBIRTH!"
The crowd cheers, with both royalists and fascists with tears in their eyes