Isabelle was born at the Château d'Eu, Eu, France, the third daughter and fifth (fourth surviving) child of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris and Infanta Maria Isabel of Spain.

In 1886, when she was eight years old, a law was promulgated by the Third Republic that effectively exiled all dynasties who formerly ruled France, whereupon she and her family moved to England.

Albert, however, was forced to end the courtship under pressure from his uncle King Leopold II, who feared that a marriage to the daughter of an exiled pretender to the French throne would result in backlash from the republican government in Paris.

[citation needed] The title was disputed by members of the Spanish Anjou branch of the family, descended from Louis XIV.

The couple had four children: Princess Isabelle died in Larache, Morocco, on 21 April 1962 at age 82.