Editing Charles X of France (section)

=== Ascension and Coronation ===
{{Main|Coronation of Charles X}}
Charles' brother King Louis XVIII's health had been worsening since the beginning of 1824.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lever |first=Évelyne |title=Louis XVIII |date=1988 |publisher=Librairie Arthème Fayard |location=Paris |page=553 |lang=fr}}</ref> Having both [[gangrene|dry and wet gangrene]] in his legs and spine, he died on 16 September of that year, aged almost 69. Charles, by now aged 66, succeeded him to the throne as King Charles X.<ref>Price, pp. 113–115.</ref> On 29 May 1825, King Charles was anointed at the cathedral of [[Reims]], the traditional site of [[Coronation of the French monarch|consecration of French kings]]; it had been unused since 1775, as Louis XVIII had forgone the ceremony to avoid controversy and because his health was too precarious.<ref name="Price119">Price, pp. 119–121.</ref> It was in the venerable cathedral of Notre-Dame at Paris that Napoleon had consecrated his [[First French Empire|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.<ref name="Redhead2012">{{Cite book |last=Redhead |first=T. W. |title=The French Revolutions |date=January 2012 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |isbn=978-3-8640-3428-2 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DIZjqeZFsloC&pg=RA2-PA176 176]}}</ref> The last coronation to be held there was the [[Coronation of Louis XVI]] in 1775. 

[[File:Coronation of Charles X of France by François Gérard, circa 1827.jpg|thumb|left|''[[The Coronation of Charles X]]'' by [[François Gérard]]. Consecration of Charles X as King of France in the Cathedral of Reims|400x400px]]
[[File:Palais du Tau - manteau du sacre de Charles X.jpg|thumb|Coronation robe of King Charles X. Preserved in the palais du Tau in Reims (Marne, France).]]
Like the regime of the Restoration itself, the coronation was conceived as a compromise between the monarchical tradition and the [[Charter of 1814]]: it took up the main phases of traditional ceremonial such as the seven anointings or the oaths on the Gospels, all by associating with it the oath of fidelity taken by the King to the Charter of 1814 or the participation of the great princes in the ceremonial as assistants of the Archbishop of Reims.

A commission was charged with simplifying and modernizing the ceremony and making it compatible with the principles of the monarchy according to the Charter (deletion of the promises of struggle against heretics and infidels, of the twelve peers, of references to Hebrew royalty, etc.) – it lasted three and a half hours.

In fact, the choice of the coronation was applauded by the royalists in favor of a constitutional and parliamentary monarchy and not only by those nostalgic for the Ancien Régime; the fact that the ceremony was modernized and adapted to new times encouraged [[François-René de Chateaubriand|Chateaubriand]], a non-absolutist royalist and enthusiastic supporter of the Charter of 1814, to invite the king to be crowned. In the [[brochure]] ''The King is Dead! Long live the king!''&nbsp;Chateaubriand explains that a coronation would have being the "link in the chain which united the oath of the new monarchy to the oath of the old monarchy"; it is continuity with the Ancien Régime more than its return that the royalists extol, Charles X having inherited the qualities of his ancestors: "pious like [[Louis IX of France|Saint Louis]], affable, compassionate and vigilant like [[Louis XII]], courteous like [[Francis I of France|Francis I]], frank as [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV]]".

The coronation showed that dynastic continuity went hand in hand with political continuity; for Chateaubriand: "The current constitution is only the rejuvenated text of the code of our old franchises".

This coronation took several days: the May 28, vespers ceremony;&nbsp; May 29, ceremony of the coronation itself, chaired by the Archbishop of Reims, [[Jean-Baptiste de Latil|Mgr. Jean-Baptiste de Latil]], in the presence in particular of Chateaubriand, [[Alphonse de Lamartine|Lamartine]], [[Victor Hugo]], and a large audience; May 30, award ceremony for the Knights of the [[Order of the Holy Spirit]] and finally, May 31, the [[Royal touch|Royal touch of scrofula]].[[File:Charles X, King of France - Lawrence 1825.jpg|thumb|''[[Portrait of Charles X]]'' by [[Thomas Lawrence]] 1825. Commissioned by the British king [[George IV]] it now hangs in [[Windsor Castle]].]]

The coronation of Charles X therefore appeared to be a compromise between the tradition of the Ancien Régime and the political changes that had taken place since the Revolution. The coronation nevertheless had a limited influence on the population, mentalities no longer being those of yesteryear. From then on, the coronation caused incomprehension in certain sectors of public opinion.

It was [[Luigi Cherubini]] who composed the music for the [[Coronation Mass]]. For the occasion, the composer [[Gioachino Rossini]] composed the Opera ''[[Il viaggio a Reims|Il Viaggio a Reims]].''