Charles X of France - Second Exile and Death

Second Exile and Death

When it became apparent that a mob of 14,000 people was preparing to attack, the royal family was forced to leave Rambouillet and, on 16 August, embarked on packet steamers provided by Louis Philippe, to the United Kingdom. Informed by the British Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, that they needed to arrive in England as private citizens, all adopted pseudonyms, with Charles X assuming the name of a "Count of Ponthieu". The Bourbons were greeted coldly by the English, who upon their arrival mockingly waved the newly adopted tri-colour flags at them.

Charles X was quickly followed to Britain by his creditors, who had lent him vast sums during his first exile and were yet to be paid back in full. However, the family could use money Charles's wife had stocked away in London.

The Bourbons were allowed to reside in Lulworth Castle in Dorset, but quickly moved to Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, where the Duchess of Berry also lived at Regent Terrace

Charles's relationship with his daughter-in-law proved uneasy, as the Duchess claimed the regency for her son, Henri, whom the abdications of Rambouillet had left the legitimist pretender to the French throne. Charles at first denied her demands, but in December acquiesced, and only once she had landed in France. Soon afterwards, the Duchess by way of the Netherlands, Prussia and Austria made her way to her Italian relatives. Finding little support there, she arrived in Marseilles in April, made her way to the Vendée, where she tried to instigate an uprising against the new regime, and was imprisoned, much to the embarrassment of her father-in-law. He was further dismayed when after her release the Duchess married the Count of Lucchesi Palli, a minor Neapolitan noble. As a result of this morganatic match, Charles banned her from seeing her children.

On the invitation of Emperor Francis I of Austria, the Bourbons moved to Prague in winter 1832/33 and were given lodging at the Hradschin Palace by the Emperor. In September 1833, Bourbon legitimists gathered in Prague to celebrate the Duke of Bordeaux's thirteenth birthday. They expected grand celebrations but Charles X merely proclaimed his grandson's majority. On the same day, after much cajoling by Chateaubriand, Charles agreed to a meeting with his daughter-in-law, which took place in Leoben on 13 October 1833. The children of the Duchess refused to meet with her after they had learnt of her second marriage. Charles refused the various demands by the Duchess, but after protests from his other daughter-in-law, the Duchess of Angoulême, gave in again. In the summer of 1834, he again allowed the Duchess of Berry to see her children.

Upon the death of Emperor Francis in March 1835, the Bourbons left Prague Castle as the new Emperor Ferdinand wished to use it for his coronation. The Bourbons first moved to Teplitz, but as Ferdinand wanted to use Prague Castle on a more permanent basis, they purchased Kirchberg Castle. Moving there was postponed due to an outbreak of cholera in the locality. In the meantime, Charles left for the warmer climate on Austria's Mediterranean coast in October 1835. Upon his arrival at Görz he caught cholera and died on 6 November 1836. The townspeople draped their windows in black to mourn him. Charles was interred in the Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady, in the Franciscan Kostanjevica Monastery (now in Nova Gorica, Slovenia).

The remains of Charles X are in a crypt with that of the other members of the exiled French Royal Family. Above his sarcophagus, made of marble, there is a black stone on which is inscribed:

Ici repose très haut et très puissant excellent prince Charles X de nom roi, par la grâce de Dieu, de France et de Navarre

("Here lies very high and powerful excellent prince Charles X by name king, by the grace of God, of France and of Navarre")