Charles X of France
Charles X ruled France for six years and lost the throne by attempting to govern as though 1789 had not happened. Born at Versailles in 1757, he was the youngest brother of Louis XVI and was created Count of Artois. He was extravagant, charming and reactionary, and was so unpopular before the revolution that his brother urged him to leave; he emigrated in July 1789, days after the Bastille fell, the first of the princes to go. He spent the emigration in Turin, Koblenz, Britain and Edinburgh, funding and encouraging royalist risings including the failed Quiberon expedition, and living on a British pension. Under his brother Louis XVIII's restoration he led the ultra-royalists, who wanted the church and the nobility restored to their former position and regarded the constitutional Charter as a surrender. He succeeded in 1824 and was crowned at Reims with the full medieval rite, including the anointing with the holy oil. His legislation confirmed the fears. A law of 1825 compensated émigrés for confiscated lands with a billion francs, funded by cutting the interest on government bonds, which hit the bourgeoisie directly. A sacrilege law made theft of consecrated vessels a capital offence. The Jesuits returned and press censorship tightened. He appointed the ultra Polignac as chief minister in 1829 against parliamentary opinion, and in July 1830 issued ordinances dissolving the newly elected chamber, restricting the franchise and suppressing the press. Paris rose for three days. He abdicated and went into exile in Britain and then Prague, dying of cholera in 1836.
- Lived: 1757 CE – 1836 CE
- Nationality: French
- Roles: king, head_of_state
