After his father succeeded in the earldom of Breadalbane and Holland in 1862, Campbell became known by the courtesy title Lord Glenorchy.

However, in 1873 he was created Baron Breadalbane, of Kenmure in the County of Perth,[6] in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, which gave him a seat in the House of Lords.

[7] The Liberals fell from power in 1874[8] but returned to office in 1880, when Breadalbane was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed Treasurer of the Household by Gladstone,[9] a post he held until 1885.

[10] The latter year he was created Earl of Ormelie, in the County of Caithness, and Marquess of Breadalbane, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

He died at the Central Station Hotel in Glasgow in October 1922, aged 71, and was buried at Finlarig.