Charles X (1757-1836)

Charles X, king of France, pictured in his coronation robes in 1824. This is a detail from a painting by the French neoclassical artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867).

King of France from 1824. Grandson of Louis XV and brother of Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he was known as the comte d'Artois before his accession. As comte d'Artois, Charles enjoyed a notoriously dissolute life at court, and became involved in reactionary politics. Returning to France after the French Revolution, he became leader of the ultra-royalist group that put his brother Louis XVIII on the throne in 1814. He fled to England at the beginning of the French Revolution, and when he came to the throne on the death of Louis XVIII, he attempted to reverse the achievements of the Revolution. A revolt ensued in 1830, and he again fled to England.