In 1876 while walking down Holborn, he noticed a crowd reading a poster of an evening paper stating that Serbia had declared war on Turkey.

A world cruise followed in which he visited British India where he dined with the Viceroy, Lord Lytton at Simla, travelling on to Sydney, Tasmania, Auckland, Honolulu and San Francisco, and in 1882 was in Egypt to cover the Anglo-Egyptian War; he was present at Battle of Tel-el-Kebir.

In July 1882 he was a guest alongside rival journalist Moberly Bell on board HMS Condor when its commander Lord Charles Beresford attacked Fort Marabut during the Bombardment of Alexandria.

[5] The following year saw him in Russia to cover the coronation of Tsar Alexander III but he was soon back in North Africa, this time to provide sketches of the fighting in the Sudan during the Gordon relief expedition.

Villiers exhibited two paintings at the Royal Academy, the first in 1882 entitled 'The road home; the return of an Imperial brigade from Afghanistan', and in the following year 'Fighting Arabi with his own weapons; an incident of the Battle of Tel el-Kebir'.