After the Bourbon Restoration in , Charles as heir-presumptive became the leader of the ultra-royalists , a radical monarchist faction within the French court that affirmed absolute monarchy by divine right and opposed the constitutional monarchy concessions towards liberals and the guarantees of civil liberties granted by the Charter of Charles's reign of almost six years proved to be deeply unpopular amongst the liberals in France from the moment of his coronation in , 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.
He eventually appointed a conservative government under the premiership of Prince Jules de Polignac , who was defeated in the French legislative election. He responded with the July Ordinances disbanding the Chamber of Deputies, limiting franchise, and reimposing press censorship. Exiled once again, Charles died in in Gorizia , then part of the Austrian Empire. Although extinct in male line after Charles X's grandson Henri died childless fifty years after the king was deposed, the senior branch of the House of Bourbon still exists to this day in the female line through his granddaughter Princess Louise of Artois , Henri's older sister: Louise married her distant relative Charles III of Parma , who came from the Spanish collateral branch of Bourbon-Parma , and was the mother of the last Duke of Parma , Robert I.
As a result, Charles X is the ancestor of the Luxembourg grand ducal family, who currently reigns over Luxembourg. His eldest brother, Louis, Duke of Burgundy , died unexpectedly in , which moved Charles up one place in the line of succession. Louis XV fell ill on 27 April and died on 10 May of smallpox at the age of Louis-Antoine was the first of the next generation of Bourbons, as the king and the 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.
Charles was thought of as the most attractive member of his family, bearing a strong resemblance to his grandfather Louis XV. Later, he embarked upon a lifelong love affair with the beautiful Louise de Polastron , the sister-in-law of Marie Antoinette 's closest companion, the Duchess of Polignac. Charles also struck up a firm friendship with Marie Antoinette herself, whom he had first met upon her arrival in France in April when he was twelve. As part of Marie Antoinette's social set, Charles often appeared opposite her in the private theatre of her favourite royal retreat, the Petit Trianon.
