Charles X of France

Biography

Charles X, born Charles Philippe on October 9, 1757, in Versailles, was the last king from the senior Bourbon line in France, ruling from September 16, 1824, until he was forced to abdicate on August 2, 1830. The youngest brother of Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he lived much of his early life amid the lavish court life at Versailles until the French Revolution completely changed the monarchy. When the revolution began in 1789, Charles was among the first royals to flee France and became a key figure among the exiled nobility seeking foreign help to restore the Bourbon family to power. He married Maria Theresa of Savoy, and they had several children, including Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, whose assassination in 1820 later changed the political scene during the Restoration.

After the Bourbon Restoration in 1814 and his brother Louis XVIII's return to the throne, Charles became the main supporter of the ultra-royalists, a group that rejected the constitutional changes in the Charter of 1814. The ultras wanted to go back to an absolute monarchy based on divine right, opposed liberal civil liberties, and aimed to reverse the social changes from the Revolution. Charles gained more political power after his son’s assassination in 1820 and took over from Louis XVIII when he died in 1824. His coronation in Reims in 1825 was staged to remind people of old royal traditions, including trying to bring back the ancient royal touch ceremony where the king was thought to heal scrofula by touch.

During his reign, Charles introduced very conservative policies that put him at odds with the liberal-majority Chamber of Deputies. His government repaid aristocrats whose lands were taken during the Revolution, funded by bondholders. The role of the Catholic Church grew, and capital punishment was brought back for sacrilege. To distract from growing domestic issues, Charles approved a military expedition to Algeria in 1830, starting a colonial presence that would last over a century. He also forced Haiti to pay a large financial indemnity for French recognition of its independence.

The crisis that ended his reign happened quickly. After his conservative ally Prince Jules de Polignac led the royalists to a major defeat in the 1830 legislative elections, Charles reacted by issuing the July Ordinances, royal decrees that dissolved the Chamber of Deputies, cut back voting rights, and reimposed press censorship. The public reaction was quick and violent. Within days, Paris was in the throes of the July Revolution, and Charles found his government lacking the military or popular support to continue. He abdicated on August 2, 1830, in favor of his grandson, but the Chamber of Deputies instead put Louis Philippe of the Orléans branch on the throne as King of the French.

Exiled for a second time, Charles spent his last years moving between courts in Britain and Central Europe. He died on November 6, 1836, in Gorizia, then part of the Austrian Empire, at seventy-nine. His death marked the end of the senior Bourbon line's control over French politics.