From 1883, when his cousin Henri, Count of Chambord died, he was often referred to by Orléanists and a large faction of Legitimists as Philippe VII.

A historian, journalist and outspoken democrat, Philippe volunteered to serve as a Union Army officer in the American Civil War along with his younger brother, Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres.

[citation needed] On 30 May 1864 at St. Raphael's Church in Kingston upon Thames, England he married his paternal first cousin, Princess Marie Isabelle d'Orléans (1848–1919), Infanta of Spain.

She was daughter of Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain and Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier (1824–1890), the youngest son of Louis-Philippe of France and Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily.

In 1873, anticipating a restoration of the monarchy by the largely monarchist National Assembly that had been elected following the fall of Napoleon III, the Count of Paris withdrew his claims to the defunct French throne in favour of the legitimist claimant, Henri V, best known as the Comte de Chambord.

In 1886 the family was exiled again returning to the United Kingdom, where they first lived at Sheen House, near Richmond, where the young Rosa Lewis was a member of their household.