King Charles X
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)
- 2) Charles-Ferdinand (January 24, 1778 - February 13, 1820)
- 3) Sophie (August 5, 1776 - December 5, 1783)
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.