August 2, 1830: Abdication of Charles X, King of France and Navarre. Part I.

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August III of Poland, Charles Philippe de Bourbon of France, Charles X of France and Navarre, Count of Artois, Felipe V of Spain, Louis XV of France and Navarre, Madame de Pompadour, Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy

Charles X (Charles Philippe; October 9, 1757 – November 6, 1836) was King of France and Navarre from September 16, 1824 until August 2, 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother to reigning kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile.

Charles Philippe of France was born in 1757, at the Palace of Versailles, the youngest son of the Dauphin Louis of France and his second wife, Princess Marie Josèpha of Saxony, a daughter of August III, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, and Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria, the daughter of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor and Princess Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

August III of Poland as Elector of Saxony in the Holy Roman Empire was known as Friedrich August II.

Prince Charles Philippe de Bourbon of France, Count of Artois

Dauphin Louis was eldest son of King Louis XV of France and Navarre, was widowed on July 22, 1746 when his wife, Infanta Maria Teresa of Spain, died giving birth to their only child, a daughter named after herself. Infanta Maria Teresa of Spain was the daughter of King Felipe V of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese. King Felipe V of Spain was a member of the House of Bourbon and a grandson of King Louis XIV.

King Fernando VI of Spain, Maria Teresa’s half-brother, had offered the Dauphin another sister, Infanta Maria Antonia. Instead, the King Louis XV of France and his mistress Madame de Pompadour wanted to open up diplomatic channels.

On January 10, 1747, Louis was married by proxy at Dresden to Maria Josepha of Saxony, the 15-year-old younger daughter of Augustus III, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, and his wife Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria. A second marriage ceremony took place in person at Versailles on 9 February 1747.

Charles Philippe was created Count of Artois at birth by his grandfather, the reigning King Louis XV.

As the youngest male in the family, Charles Philippe seemed unlikely ever to become king. His eldest brother, Louis Joseph, Duke of Burgundy, died unexpectedly in 1761, which moved Charles Philippe up one place in the line of succession.

At the death of his father in 1765, Charles’s oldest surviving brother, Louis Auguste, became the new Dauphin (the heir apparent to the French throne). Their mother Marie Josèphe, who never recovered from the loss of her husband, died in March 1767 from tuberculosis. This left Charles Philippe an orphan at the age of nine, along with his siblings Louis Auguste, Louis Stanislas, Count of Provence, Clotilde (“Madame Clotilde”), and Élisabeth (“Madame Élisabeth”).

1773, Charles Philippe married Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy (1756 – 1805). Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy was born at the Royal Palace in Turin during the reign of her grandfather King Carlo Emmanuel III of Sardinia. She was the daughter of the heir apparent , Victor Amadeus and his wife Infanta Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain, the youngest daughter of Felipe V of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese.

Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy

Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy was the couple’s third daughter and fifth child of twelve children. She was raised with her sister Princess Maria Giuseppina who was three years her senior and whom she would join later as a member of the Royal House of France, when her sister married Louis Stanislas, Count of Provence (and later King Louis XVIII of France and Navarre).

The future King Charles X, as the Count of Artois had previously been intended to marry Louise Adélaïde de Bourbon, the third and last child of Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé and his wife, Charlotte de Rohan (1737–1760),

However, the union never took place as her rank was much lower than Artois who, as a male-line descendant of a French monarch, was a grandson of France, thus he was entitled to the style His Royal Highness. Louise Adélaïde de Bourbon, despite being born a princesse du sang; was from a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon and this only entitled her to the style of Her Serene Highness.

As her husband was the grandson of a king, the newly named Marie Thérèse of Savoy held the rank of granddaughter of France, and was commonly referred to by the simple style Madame la comtesse d’Artois.

Accession to the Throne

Charles’ brother King Louis XVIII’s health had been worsening since the beginning of 1824. Suffering from both dry and wet gangrene in his legs and spine, he died on September 16, of that year, aged almost 69. Charles, by now in his 67th year, succeeded him to the throne as King Charles X of France and Navarre.

In his first act as king, Charles attempted to unify the House of Bourbon by granting the style of Royal Highness to his cousins of the House of Orléans, who had been deprived of this by Louis XVIII because of the former Duke of Orléans’ role in the death of Louis XVI.

On May 29, 1825, King Charles X was anointed at the cathedral of Reims, the traditional site of consecration of French kings; it had been unused since 1775, as Louis XVIII had forgone the ceremony to avoid controversy. It was in the venerable cathedral of Notre-Dame at Paris that Napoleon had consecrated his revolutionary empire; but in ascending the throne of his ancestors, Charles reverted to the old place of coronation used by the kings of France from the early ages of the monarchy.

April 13, 1747: Birth of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans

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Charles Philippe, Count of Artois, Duke of Orleans, French Revolution, House of Bourbon, House of Orléans, July Revolution, King Louis Philippe of the French, Louis Philippe II, Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre, Philippe Égalité, Reign of Terror

Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (April 13, 1747 – November 6, 1793), was a major French noble who supported the French Revolution.

Louis Philippe II was born at the Château de Saint-Cloud to Louis Philippe I, Duke of Chartres, and Louise Henriette de Bourbon. He was titled Duke of Montpensier at birth. Louis Philippe was a member of the House of Orléans, a cadet branch of the French royal family. His mother came from the House of Bourbon-Condé.

Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans

When his grandfather Louis, Duke of Orléans, died in 1752, his father became the new Duke of Orléans and Louis Philippe II became Duke of Chartres. When his father died in 1785, he became Duke of Orléans and First Prince of the Blood. He was styled as Serene Highness. This put him in line for the succession to the throne immediately after Charles Philippe, Count of Artois, the youngest brother of Louis XVI.

On June 6, 1769, Louis Philippe married Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, Duchess of Orléans (1753 –1821), was the daughter of his cousin Louis Jean de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre and Princess Maria Teresa d’Este, a Princess of Modena. Her father the The were wed at the chapel of the Palace of Versailles. Her father was one of the richest men in France.

Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre

Since it was certain that his wife would become the richest woman in France upon the death of her father, Louis Philippe was able to play a political role in court equal to that of his great-grandfather Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who had been the Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV.

Unlike her husband, Louise Marie Adélaïde the Duchess of Orléans did not support the Revolution. She was a devout Catholic who supported keeping the monarchy in France, as well as following the orders of Pope Pius VI. This was the causes of one of the rifts of the couple, as their first son, Louis Philippe, the future “King of the French”, followed his father’s footsteps and joined the Jacobin faction.

During the first few months of their marriage, the couple appeared devoted to each other, but the Duke went back to the life of libertinage he had led before his marriage. The Duke was a well-known womanizer and, like several of his ancestors, such as Louis XIV and Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, had several illegitimate children.

In 1792, during the Revolution, Louis Philippe II changed his name to Philippe Égalité. He was a cousin of King Louis XVI. He actively supported the Revolution of 1789, and was a strong advocate for the elimination of the present absolute monarchy in favor of a constitutional monarchy.

Louis Philippe voted for the death of Louis XVI. The King was especially shocked by the news, stating:

“It really pains me to see that Monsieur d’Orléans, my kinsman, voted for my death.”

Death

On April 1, 1793, a decree was voted for within the Convention, including Égalité’s vote, that condemned anyone with “strong presumptions of complicity with the enemies of Liberty.”

At the time, Philippe Égalité’s son, Louis Philippe, who was a general in the French army, joined General Dumouriez in a plot to visit the Austrians, who were an enemy of France.

Although there was no evidence that convicted Égalité himself of treason, the simple relationship that his son had with Dumouriez, a traitor in the eyes of the Convention, was enough to get him and Louis Charles, Count of Beaujolais (son of Philippe Égalité and the younger brother of King Louis-Philippe I of the French) arrested on April 4, 1793, and the other members of the Bourbon family still in France on the days after.

Philippe Égalité spent several months incarcerated at Fort Saint-Jean in Marseille until he was sent back to Paris. On November 2, 1793, he was imprisoned at the Conciergerie. Tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal on November 6, he was sentenced to death, and guillotined the same day.

His son, Louis Philippe, became King of the French after the July Revolution of 1830. After Louis Philippe II, the term Orléanist came to be attached to the movement in France that favored a constitutional monarchy.

October 9, 1836: Death of King Charles X of France and Navarre

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Abdication, Charles X of France and Navarre, Conquest of Algeria, Count of Artois, French Revolution, July Monarchy, Louis Antoine, Louis XVI of France and Navarre, Louis XVIII of France and Navarre, Marie Thérèse of Savoy

Charles X (born Charles Philippe, Count of Artois; October 9, 1757 – November 6, 1836) was King of France and Navarre from September 16, 1824 until August 2, 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother to reigning kings Louis XVI (Louis Auguste) and Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas) he supported the latter in exile.

Charles Philippe of France was the youngest son of the Dauphin Louis and his wife, the Dauphine Marie Josèphe, and born at the Palace of Versailles. Dauphine Maria Josèphe was the daughter of Augustus III, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, and Maria Josepha of Austria. Dauphine Maria Josèphe was the ninth of sixteen children and the fifth daughter.

Charles Philippe was created Count of Artois at birth by his grandfather, the reigning King Louis XV. As the youngest male in the family, Charles seemed unlikely ever to become king. His eldest brother, Louis Joseph, Duke of Burgundy, died unexpectedly in 1761, which moved Charles up one place in the line of succession.

After the Bourbon Restoration in 1814, Charles Philippe (as heir-presumptive) became the leader of the ultra-royalists, a radical monarchist faction within the French court that affirmed rule by divine right and opposed the concessions towards liberals and guarantees of civil liberties granted by the Charter of 1814. Charles gained influence within the French court after the assassination of his son Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, in 1820 and eventually succeeded his brother in 1824.

In 1773, Charles Philippe, Count of Artois, married Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy (1756 – 1805).

Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy was born at the Royal Palace in Turin during the reign of her grandfather Carlo Emmanuel III of Sardinia. The daughter of the heir apparent , Victor Amadeus and his wife Infanta Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain, the youngest daughter of Felipe V of Spain (himself a scion of the French Royal House of Bourbon) and Elisabeth Farnese.

Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy was the couple’s third daughter and fifth child of twelve children. She was raised with her sister Princess Maria Giuseppina who was three years her senior and whom she would join later as a member of the Royal House of France, when her sister married Louis Stanislas, Count of Provence (and later King Louis XVIII of France and Navarre).

The future King Charles X, as the Count of Artois had previously been intended to marry Louise Adélaïde de Bourbon, the third and last child of Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé and his wife, Charlotte de Rohan (1737–1760),

However, the union never took place as her rank was much lower than Artois who, as a male-line descendant of a French monarch, was a grandson of France, thus he was entitled to the style His Royal Highness. Louise Adélaïde de Bourbon, despite being born a princesse du sang; was from a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon and this only entitled her to the style of Her Serene Highness.

As her husband was the grandson of a king, the newly named Marie Thérèse of Savoy held the rank of granddaughter of France, and was commonly referred to by the simple style Madame la comtesse d’Artois.

Accession to the Throne

Charles’ brother King Louis XVIII’s health had been worsening since the beginning of 1824. Suffering from both dry and wet gangrene in his legs and spine, he died on September 16, of that year, aged almost 69. Charles, by now in his 67th year, succeeded him to the throne as King Charles X of France and Navarre. In his first act as king, Charles attempted to unify the House of Bourbon by granting the style of Royal Highness to his cousins of the House of Orléans, who had been deprived of this by Louis XVIII because of the former Duke of Orléans’ role in the death of Louis XVI.

On May 29, 1825, King Charles X was anointed at the cathedral of Reims, the traditional site of consecration of French kings; it had been unused since 1775, as Louis XVIII had forgone the ceremony to avoid controversy. It was in the venerable cathedral of Notre-Dame at Paris that Napoleon had consecrated his revolutionary empire; but in ascending the throne of his ancestors, Charles reverted to the old place of coronation used by the kings of France from the early ages of the monarchy.

Charles X’s reign of almost six years proved to be deeply unpopular from the moment of his coronation in 1825, in which he tried to revive the practice of the royal touch. The governments appointed under his reign reimbursed former landowners for the abolition of feudalism at the expense of bondholders, increased the power of the Catholic Church, and reimposed capital punishment for sacrilege, leading to conflict with the liberal-majority Chamber of Deputies.

Charles also initiated the French conquest of Algeria as a way to distract his citizens from domestic problems, and forced Haiti to pay a hefty indemnity in return for lifting a blockade and recognizing Haiti’s independence. He eventually appointed a conservative government under the premiership of Prince Jules de Polignac, who was defeated in the 1830 French legislative election. He responded with the July Ordinances disbanding the Chamber of Deputies, limiting franchise, and reimposing press censorship. Within a week France faced urban riots which led to the July Revolution of 1830, which resulted in his abdication of King Charles X of France and Navarre.

Charles reluctantly signed the document of abdication on August 2, 1830. Charles initially abdicated the throne to his eldest son, Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême. It is said that Louis Antoine spent the next 20 minutes listening to the entreaties of his wife (his first cousin, Marie Thérèse of France, the eldest child of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and the only member of the immediate royal family to survive the French Revolution) not to sign a similar document of abdication, while the former Charles X sat weeping. However, Louis Antoine also abdicated, in favour of his nephew, Henri, Duke of Bordeaux.

Technically the Duke of Angoulême was King Louis XIX of France and Navarre for about 20 minutes before he himself abdicated his rights to the throne to his nephew. Louis Antoine never reigned over the country, but after his father’s death in 1836, he was considered the legitimist pretender as Louis XIX. For the final time he left for exile, where he was known as the “Count of Marnes”. He never returned to France.

The boy who should have been King after Charles X was Henri, Duke of Bordeaux. He was the only son of Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, the younger son of Charles X of France, and born after his father’s death in 1920. The Duke of Bordeaux’s mother was Princess Carolina of Naples and Sicily, daughter of King Francesco I of the Two Sicilies and his first wife, Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria, the tenth child and third daughter of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain.

Princess Carolina of Naples and Sicily’s parents were double first cousins. The Two Sicilies Royal Family was a branch of the Spanish House of Bourbon. The grandson of Charles X, Henri was a Petit-Fils de France. He was the last legitimate descendant in the male line of Louis XV of France.

Charles X named Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans (from the Orléans branch of the House of Bourbon descendants of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, the brother of King Louis XIV) Lieutenant général du royaume, and charged him to announce his desire to have his grandson succeed him to the popularly elected Chamber of Deputies.

Louis Philippe did not do this, in order to increase his own chances of succession. As a consequence, because the Chamber of Deputies was aware of Louis Philippe’s liberal policies and of his popularity with the masses, they proclaimed Louis Philippe as the new French king, displacing the senior branch of the House of Bourbon. For the prior eleven days Louis Philippe had been acting as the regent for the young King Henri V of France and Navarre, his fifth cousin twice removed.

Charles X and his family, including his grandson, went into exile in Britain. The young ex-king, Henri V, the Duke of Bordeaux, who, in exile, took the title of comte de Chambord, later became the pretender to the throne of France and was supported by the Legitimists.

Charles died in 1836 in Gorizia, then part of the Austrian Empire. He was the last of the French rulers from the senior branch of the House of Bourbon.

August 2, 1830: Abdication of Charles X, King of France and Navarre.

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Abdication, Chamber of Deputies, Charles X of France and Navarre, Count of Artois, House of Bourbon, July Revolution of 1830, Louis Antoine, Louis XVI of France and Navarre, Louis XVIII of France and Navarre

Charles X (Charles Philippe, Count of Artois; October 9, 1757 – November 26, 1836) was King of France and Navarre from September 16, 1824 until August 2, 1830.

Charles Philippe of France was the youngest son of the Dauphin Louis and his wife, the Dauphine Marie Josèphe, at the Palace of Versailles. Dauphine Maria Josèphe was the daughter of Augustus III, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, and Maria Josepha of Austria. Dauphine Maria Josèphe was the ninth of sixteen children and the fifth daughter.

Charles was created Count of Artois at birth by his grandfather, the reigning King Louis XV. As the youngest male in the family, Charles seemed unlikely ever to become king. His eldest brother, Louis Joseph, Duke of Burgundy, died unexpectedly in 1761, which moved Charles up one place in the line of succession.

At the death of his father in 1765, Charles’s oldest surviving brother, Louis Auguste, became the new Dauphin (the heir apparent to the French throne). Their mother Marie Josèphe, who never recovered from the loss of her husband, died in March 1767 from tuberculosis. This left Charles an orphan at the age of nine, along with his siblings Louis Auguste, Louis Stanislas, Count of Provence, Clotilde (Madame Clotilde), and Élisabeth (Madame Élisabeth).

Louis XV fell ill on April 27, 1774 and died on May 10 of smallpox at the age of 64. His grandson Louis Auguste succeeded him as King Louis XVI of France and Navarre.

Marriage and private life

In November 1773, Charles, Count of Artois married Princess Marie Thérèse of Savoy. Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy was born at the Royal Palace in Turin during the reign of her grandfather King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia. Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy was the daughter of King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia and Infanta Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain, she was the couple’s third daughter and fifth child of twelve children. She was raised with her sister Princess Maria Joséphine who was three years her senior and whom she would join later as a member of the Royal House of France. Marie Joséphine of Savoy was a Princess of France and Countess of Provence by marriage to the future King Louis XVIII of France.

In 1775, Marie Thérèse gave birth to a boy, Louis Antoine, who was created Duke of Angoulême by Louis XVI. Louis-Antoine was the first of the next generation of Bourbons, as the Louis XVI and his brother, Louis Stanislas, Count of Provence had not fathered any children yet, causing the Parisian libellistes (pamphleteers who published scandalous leaflets about important figures in court and politics) to lampoon Louis XVI’s alleged impotence.

Three years later, in 1778, Charles’ second son, Charles Ferdinand, was born and given the title of Duke of Berry. In the same year Queen Marie Antoinette gave birth to her first child, Marie Thérèse, quelling all rumours that she could not bear children. We will see Princess Marie Thérèse of France shortly.

Charles was thought of as the most attractive member of his family, bearing a strong resemblance to his grandfather Louis XV. His wife was considered quite ugly by most contemporaries, and he looked for company in numerous extramarital affairs.

An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother to reigning kings Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste) and Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas) Charles. supported the latter in exile. After the Bourbon Restoration in 1814, Charles (as heir-presumptive) became the leader of the ultra-royalists, a radical monarchist faction within the French court that affirmed rule by divine right and opposed the concessions towards liberals and guarantees of civil liberties granted by the Charter of 1814. Charles gained influence within the French court after the assassination of his son Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, in 1820 and eventually succeeded his brother as King Charles X of France and Navarre in 1824.

Charles X’s reign of almost six years proved to be deeply unpopular from the moment of his coronation in 1825, in which he tried to revive the practice of the royal touch. The governments appointed under his reign reimbursed former landowners for the abolition of feudalism at the expense of bondholders, increased the power of the Catholic Church, and reimposed capital punishment for sacrilege, leading to conflict with the liberal-majority Chamber of Deputies.

Charles also initiated the French conquest of Algeria as a way to distract his citizens from domestic problems, and forced Haiti to pay a hefty indemnity in return for lifting a blockade and recognizing Haiti’s independence. He eventually appointed a conservative government under the premiership of Prince Jules de Polignac, who was defeated in the 1830 French legislative election.

Charles X responded with the July Ordinances disbanding the Chamber of Deputies, limiting franchise, and reimposing press censorship. Within a week France faced urban riots which led to the July Revolution of 1830.

Masses of angry demonstrators demanded the abdication of Charles and of his descendants in July and a delegation was sent to the Tuileries Palace to force his compliance.

Charles reluctantly signed the document of abdication on August 2, 1830. Charles initially abdicated the throne to his eldest son, Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême. It is said that Louis Antoine spent the next 20 minutes listening to the entreaties of his wife (his first cousin, Marie Thérèse of France, the eldest child of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and the only member of the immediate royal family to survive the French Revolution) not to sign a similar document of abdication, while the former Charles X sat weeping. However, Louis Antoine also abdicated, in favour of his nephew, Henri, Duke of Bordeaux.

Technically the Duke of Angoulême was King Louis XIX of France and Navarre for about 20 minutes before he himself abdicated his rights to the throne to his nephew. Louis Antoine never reigned over the country, but after his father’s death in 1836, he was considered the legitimist pretender as Louis XIX. For the final time he left for exile, where he was known as the “Count of Marnes”. He never returned to France.

The boy who should have been King after Charles X was Henri, Duke of Bordeaux. He was the only son of Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, the younger son of Charles X of France, and born after his father’s death in 1920. The Duke of Bordeaux’s mother was Princess Carolina of Naples and Sicily, daughter of King Francesco I of the Two Sicilies and his first wife, Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria, the tenth child and third daughter of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain. Princess Carolina of Naples and Sicily’s parents were double first cousins. The Two Sicilies Royal Family was a branch of the Spanish House of Bourbon. The grandson of Charles X, Henri was a Petit-Fils de France. He was the last legitimate descendant in the male line of Louis XV of France.

Charles X named Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans (from the Orléans branch of the House of Bourbon descendants of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, the brother of King Louis XIV) Lieutenant général du royaume, and charged him to announce his desire to have his grandson succeed him to the popularly elected Chamber of Deputies.

Louis Philippe did not do this, in order to increase his own chances of succession. As a consequence, because the Chamber of Deputies was aware of Louis Philippe’s liberal policies and of his popularity with the masses, they proclaimed Louis Philippe as the new French king, displacing the senior branch of the House of Bourbon. For the prior eleven days Louis Philippe had been acting as the regent for the young King Henri V of France and Navarre, his fifth cousin twice removed.

Charles X and his family, including his grandson, went into exile in Britain. The young ex-king, Henri V, the Duke of Bordeaux, who, in exile, took the title of comte de Chambord, later became the pretender to the throne of France and was supported by the Legitimists.

Louis-Philippe was sworn in as King Louis-Philippe I on August 9, 1830. Upon his accession to the throne, Louis Philippe assumed the title of King of the French – a title already adopted by Louis XVI in the short-lived Constitution of 1791. Linking the monarchy to a people instead of a territory (as the previous designation King of France and of Navarre) was aimed at undercutting the legitimist claims of Charles X and his family.

Charles X died in 1836 in Gorizia, then part of the Austrian Empire. He was the last of the French rulers from the senior branch of the House of Bourbon.