Charles X was the youngest brother of Louis XVI. He escaped being beheaded by emigrating. He returned to Paris after the defeat of Napoleon.
His brother ruled as Louis XVIII for ten years. Louis XVIII suffered from gout and was seriously overweight. He had to walk with crutches or more often was transported in a wheelchair. When he died in the Tuileries Palace his body lay in state in his bed – the one formerly used by Napoleon which he had enlarged (opposite).
Charles X did not want to use the bed his brother had been displayed in after death so he had another made the same size so he could reuse all the very expensive silk decoration. It was a return to royal blue in contrast to the red used by Napoleon and lavishly decorated with symbols of the French monarchy including the fleur-de-lys.
When Charles X was forced to abdicate, Louis Philippe used the same bed. It was enlarged because unlike all his predecessors, Louis-Philippe was a bourgeois king who slept with his wife.
