Charles X of France
Charles X (
October 9 1757-
November 6 1836) was born at the
Palace of Versailles son of Louis (the uncrowned
dauphin, son of
Marie Leszczynska) and Marie-Josèphe de Saxe. He was crowned
King of France in
1824 in the cathedral at
Reims and reigned until the
French Revolution of 1830 when he abdicated rather than become a
constitutional monarch.
He was the brother of both King
Louis XVI and King
Louis XVIII, as well as uncle to
Louis XVII
He married
Marie-Thérèse de Savoie, the daughter of
Victor Amadeus III of Savoy, on November 16,
1773.
Their children:
- 1) Louis-Antoine (August 6, 1775 - June 3, 1844)\n*2) Sophie (August 5, 1776 - December 5, 1783) \n*3) Charles-Ferdinand (January 24, 1778 - February 13, 1820)
As Comte d'
Artois he headed the reactionary faction at the court of Louis XVI. He left France at the outbreak of the
French Revolution, and stayed in
England until the Bourbon restoration in
1814. During the reign of Louis XVIII he headed the
ultraroyalist opposition, which took power after the assassination of Charles's son the
Duc du Berry. The event caused the fall of the ministry of
Élie Decazes and the rise of the
Comte de Villèle, who continued as chief minister after Charles became king.
The Villèle cabinet resigned in
1827 under pressure from the liberal press. His successor, the
Vicomte de Martignac, tried to steer a middle course, but in
1829 Charles appointed
Jules Armand de Polignac, an ultrareactionary, as chief minister. Polignac initiated French colonization in
Algeria. His dissolution of the chamber of deputies, his July Ordinances, which set up rigid control of the press, and his restriction of
suffrage resulted in the
July Revolution.
Charles abdicated in favor of his grandson, the
Comte de Chambord, and left for England. However, the
Duc d'Orléans, whom Charles had appointed Lieutenant-General of France, was chosen as "King of the French." He reigned as
Louis Philippe.
Fleeing initially to England, he later settled in
Prague and then in present-day
Slovenia. He died on November 6, 1836 in the palace of Count Michael Coronini Comberg zu Graffenberg at Goritz,
Illyria and is buried in the Church of Saint Mary of the Annunciation, Castagnavizza, Slovenia.
{| align="center" cellpadding="2" border="2"\n|-\n| width="30%" align="center" | Preceded by:
Louis XVIII\n| width="40%" align="center" |
King of France\n| width="30%" align="center" | Succeeded by:
Louis-Philippe\n|}
Charles 10
\n\n\n
