Charles d'Artois

Charles Xavier Edmund d'Artois, Comte d'Artois (April 5 1739 - ), Youngest son of Helene d'Artois (1730-1756) and Louis-Antoine d'Artois(1722-1756). He received his title after the death of his father from undisclosed illness and due to his eldest brother, Xavier d'Artois, being missing at the time. He became an infamous courtier due to scandals and rumors during his 10 years at Versailles. Despite being the Comte d'Artois, he did not inherit the traditional Artois traits. Instead, he inherited the traditional Valois traits of blonde hair and blue eyes.

Early Years (1739-1756)
Charles Xavier Edmund d'Artois, who went by Charles rather than Edmund, was born in 1739, to the Comte d'Artois, and his wife Helene de Valois, daughter of the Comte de Valois ,at the Chateau de Calais in Calais, France. He was given the title of Vicomte d'Artois as courtesy title when he was born. He is the youngest brother of Xavier d'Artois, Earl of York.

Much of his youth was spent living secluded from society in his family's chateau in Calais. He was educated by a few Parisian tutors like his brother. He was studious with a strong will to learn but reclusive. The d'Artois's lived at court intermittently between 1740-50 but the Comte after being scandalized by the rumors of his wife's mental health. Charles was only seen rarely with his mother at court and was said to be quiet and small. Louis Antoine was a constant drinker and abused his wife and children for years, though Charles d'Artois often got the worst of it than his brother.

In the fall of 1756, his brother Xavier d'Artois, ran away to, as we know now, England. He was declared missing by his parents but could not be traced down at the time. In October of 1756, Charles was married to Catherine de Rohan, the daughter of the Comte de Rohan, in Paris. The couple then moved to Chateau de Varlemont outside of Arras. Though Charles did not want to get married, the couple seemed to get all long fine at the start of their marriage.

November 30, 1756 Charles poisoned his father while visiting the Chateau de Calais and died a few days after. While it was standard for the eldest son to inherit family titles, the Comte was forced to leave his title to Charles which would be later made official by the Parliament of Paris.

Charles and his wife moved to Versailles shortly after his fathers death. His application for the Honneurs de Louvre and of Cour were quickly approved.

December 10th, 1756 Charles visited his mother at the Chateau de Calais. His mother suspected that he killed his father and had a large fight about the subject. The next day she was discovered to have shot herself, though Charles would deny this all his life. She was later buried in the Catherdal of Arras along with her husband. His brother Xavier would blame Charles for her death all his life and stopped talking to him.

Charles returned to Versailles to be presented to the King, Charles became friend with the Jacques de Bryas, Vicomte d'Arras, a provincial noble, which upset his peers and Louis de Rohan, brother of his wife Catherine and future Comte de Rohan. Which would later be considered his first scandal at Versailles.

First Marriage (1756-1765)
In 1756, Charles married Catherine de Rohan, daughter of the Comte de Rohan. While their marriage was good at the start, it slowly deteriorated. During the 1760's Charles began a relationship with Jeanne Becu (1740-)  and made her his mistress. Other issues raised including lack of ambition and general resentment. He sought annulment during the 1760's due to an unpaid dowry. Though the couple would not separate during that time and stayed on friendly terms. The marriage was annulled in 1765 and the marriage produced no children. Catherine de Rohan then returned to her families hotel in Paris to take care of her sick mother.

Second Marriage (1765-)
16 December 1765, Charles d'Artois married, in a secret ceremony in Arras, to Jeanne Becu. His mistress and former Parisian prostitute. He later brought her to court with him creating immense scandal. Many did not see the new Comtesse d'Artois as the Comte's wife as many did not think his previous marriage had cause for annulment.

Life as Comte d'Artois and at Court
During his life at Court he came to hate court and the corruptness of the people there. He was able to see through the bread and circuses that the royal family used to keep the nobility occupied with meaningless functions and titles. But, tried his best to fit court expectations for a noble family as old as his but was often overwhelmed. Due to all this, and people questioning his sanity due to his mother's death, eventually he had enough and started to not follow etiquette and ignored his peers. He started to leave court for days or weeks without notice, drank heavily, have a dark sense of humor, and started to behave erratic.

Over time he became more paranoid over people at Court's intentions and became more reclusive; sticking to his apartments most of the time. During 1764, he was officially made a Peer of France with the help of his wife Catherine as some people were not going to allow him to be accepted into Parliament. Jokes were made by the Duc d'Harcourt and Charles in turn wanted to be made an official peer out of spite.

Investigations
December 30th, 1765 he and his wife's two femme de chambre's, Victoire and Henriette, were suspect for the assassination of Louis XV. His apartments were searched by the Garde Royale with Victoire and Henriette being questioned. But, nothing was found in the Artois's apartments and no arrests were made.

Titles and Styles
5 April 1739 - 30 December 1759  His grace, the Vicomte d'Artois

30 December 1759 - 1766 His grace, the Comte d'Artois et Comte d'Eu, Peer de France

Fun Fact
Character fun facts:

If I think about a character long enough I end up coming up with 'Fun facts' which are just small bits of information are not important enough to put in a skellie or a post that I come up with randomly throughout the day.

Knows how to swim

He can play the piano though won't admit it

Charles found Robespierre in Paris, he was a kitten and covered in dirt and mud. Charles felt bad and took him home.

He has a few small porcelain figures of cats around his study. One on his desk,  the others on the bookshelves, and one on his vanity in his room.

His favorite food right now is vanilla ice cream. He also likes citron and peach. If this was modern day it would be mint chocolate chip but that doesn't exist. He also likes lemonade. His favorite fruit right now are peaches.

When Charles father died, his succession to the title had to be approved by Parliament due to the unusual circumstances. Which happened because he was a relatively unknown but was said to be well behaved and his brother was missing

He is pretty good at gambling, but doesn't participate in it much. He once beat the Comte de Foix so bad once that Foix is still mad.

Charles mostly employs mostly women that his houses as maids, servants, etc. He only hires men for positions that he thinks the women shouldn't do, such as chopping wood, cleaning horse stalls, etc. But he trusts women more. He also does not have a valet or any personal male servants.

Since Charles likes ice cream a lot, he got an ice house built at his estate. He also paid to have a very large fashionable garden behind his house that not only grows flowers but also fruits and vegetables.

Hygienic. He tries to take warm baths 1-2 times a day and changes his shirts 3-5 times a day. Which means he has a lot of linen shirts. Really does not like being dirty. He's not afraid of it just doesn't like it. Which means he owns at least 21 shirts if they are washed weekly.

He cut his hair sometime after his father died but continued to wear a wig while in public/court. He stopped wearing it the day after his presentation. Before court he just had longer hair.

The current reason why people think Charles and Xavier d'Artois are on bad terms is because Charles does not like the his brother married someone from England and is currently living there and people think that Xavier is done with Charles's BS. While both are a part of the reason, obvs it is not the full reason. Now one is 100% sure why they are no longer on speaking terms.

Also, while Xavier is generally tolerated/liked at Court, he not a member of court and is not really that popular. The fact that he married an Englishwoman and currently lives in England does not go over well. Which is probably the biggest reason why Charles still has his title.

does not wear red heels, he does own a pair tho.

Some names of courtiers that he does not like/are enemies with are the Comte de Foix, the Duc de d'Angouleme, the Duc de Croy, and the Duc d'Harcourt. I can already tell you that he does not like Laurent.

I can already tell you that he does not like anyone on the royal council. Especially the Choiseuls, Laverdy, and definitely Jacques. He would fist fight Jacques in the courtyard at any given moment.