Charles X of France

Count of Artois, King of France from 1824 to 1830

Charles-Philippe was born in Versailles on October 7, 1757. Fifth son of Dauphin Louis-Ferdinand (son of Louis XV) and Marie-Josèphe de Saxe, he was the younger brother of Louis Auguste (future Louis XVI) and Louis Stanislas Xavier, Comte de Provence (future Louis XVIII).

On November 16, 1773, he married Marie-Thérèse of Sardinia (1756-1805), daughter of King Vittorio-Amedeo III. The couple had two sons: Louis-Antoine, Duc d'Angoulême (future Dauphin) and Charles-Ferdinand, Duc de Berry.

He emigrated on July 16, 1789, and traveled throughout Europe.

During the reign of his brother Louis XVIII, he led (albeit unofficially) the ultra-royalist party. He succeeded him to the French throne on his death on September 16, 1824. His coronation in Reims Cathedral on May 29, 1825 revived the splendor of the Ancien Régime.

Less skilful and more obtuse than his predecessor, he devalued parliamentary life, and sought to promote the return of the Church to society. Relying on mostly ultra-royalist ministers (Joseph de Villèle until January 1828, Jules de Polignac from August 1829) with increasingly unpopular policies, he watched helplessly as Parisians rose up on July 27, 28 and 29, 1830. These days, which will go down in history as the Three Glorious Days, put an end to his reign: he abdicated on August 2.

He went into exile in Scotland, then in the Austrian Empire: in Prague, then in Ceské Budejovice in southern Bohemia, and finally in Görz, Slovenia.

It was here that he died of cholera on November 6, 1836.

Charles X is buried in a crypt in the Church of the Annunciation of the Franciscan monastery in Nova Gorica (eastern part of the italian city of Gorizia), currently in Slovenia.