information:classification
Charles X's reign

On 16 September 1824, after a lingering illness of several months, the 68-year-old Louis XVIII died. As he was childless, his younger brother, Charles, aged 66, inherited the throne of France. He was known to have more reactionary politics. On 27 September Charles X made his state entry into Paris to popular acclaim. During the ceremony, while presenting the King the keys to the city, the comte de Chabrol, Prefect of the Seine, declared: "Proud to possess its new king, Paris can aspire to become the queen of cities by its magnificence, as its people aspire to be foremost in its fidelity, its devotion, and its love."

Eight months later, the mood of the capital had sharply worsened in its opinion of the new king. The causes of this dramatic shift in public opinion were many, but the main two were:

Critics of the first accused the king and his new ministry of pandering to the Catholic Church, and by so doing of violating guarantees of equality of religious belief as specified in the Charter of 1814.

The second matter, that of financial indemnities, was far more opportunistic than the first. Since the restoration of the monarchy, there had been demands from all groups to settle matters of property ownership in order to reduce, if not eliminate, the uncertainties in the real estate market. But opponents, many of whom were frustrated Bonapartists, began a whispering campaign that Charles X was proposing this action in order to shame those opponents who had not left the country. Both measures, they claimed, were nothing more than clever subterfuge meant to bring about the destruction of the Charter of 1814.

Up to this time, thanks to the popularity of the constitution and the Chamber of Deputies with the people of Paris, the king's relationship with the élite—both the Bourbon supporters and Bourbon opposition—had remained solid. This, too, was about to change. On 12 April, propelled by both genuine conviction and the spirit of independence, the Chamber of Deputies roundly rejected the government's proposal to change the inheritance laws. The popular newspaper Le Constitutionnel pronounced this refusal "a victory over the forces of counter-revolutionaries and reactionism."

The popularity of both the Chamber of Peers and the Chamber of Deputies skyrocketed, and the popularity of the king and his ministry dropped. The Coronation of Charles took place at Reims Cathedral on 29 May 1825. In an elaborate ceremony the King swore both to uphold the Charter but also France's ancient "fundamental laws".

On 16 April 1827, while reviewing the Garde Royale in the Champ de Mars, the king was greeted with icy silence, and many of the spectators refused to remove their hats, the traditional sign of respect for the king. Charles X "later told Orléans that, 'although most people present were not too hostile, some looked at times with terrible expressions'."

Because of what Charles X's government perceived to be growing, relentless, and increasingly vitriolic criticism of both the government and the Church, it introduced a proposal at the Chamber of Deputies for a law to tighten censorship, especially of newspapers. The Chamber, for its part, objected so violently that the humiliated government had no choice but to withdraw its proposals.

On 30 April, on the grounds that it had behaved in an offensive manner towards the crown, the king abruptly dissolved the National Guard of Paris, a voluntary group of citizens formerly considered a reliable conduit between the monarchy and the people. Cooler heads were appalled: " would rather have my head cut off", wrote a nobleman from the Rhineland upon hearing the news, "than have counseled such an act: the only further measure needed to cause a revolution is censorship."

On 17 March 1830, the majority in the Chamber of Deputies passed a motion of no confidence, the Address of the 221, against the king and Polignac 's ministry. The following day, Charles dissolved parliament, and alarmed the opposition by delaying elections for two months. During this time, the liberals championed the "221" as popular heroes, while the government struggled to gain support across the country, as prefects were shuffled around the departments of France. The elections that followed, taking place between 5 and 19 July 1830, returned a narrow majority for Polignac and his Ultra-royalists, but many Chamber members were nevertheless hostile to the king.

On Sunday, 25 July 1830, the king, with the agreement of Polignac, set out to alter the Charter of 1814 by decree. His decrees, known as the July Ordinances, dissolved the Chamber of Deputies, suspended the liberty of the press, excluded the commercial middle class from future elections, and called for new elections. On Monday 26 July, these decrees were published in the leading conservative newspaper in Paris, Le Moniteur. On Tuesday 27 July, a revolution began in earnest Les trois journées de juillet, and ultimately ended the Bourbon monarchy.