He took his place behind Mirabeau, to disobey the king.

Nominated president by the National Assembly, he refused this honour in order to remain a citizen.
The day on which the dismissal of Necker betrayed the hostile projects of the court, and when the people of Paris named its leaders and defenders by acclamation, the name of the Duc d'Orleans was the first uttered.

France took in the gardens of the palace the colours of his livery for a cockade.

At the voice of Camille Desmoulins, who uttered the cry of alarm in the Palais Royal, the populace gathered, Legendre and Freron led them; they placed the bust of the Duc d'Orleans beside that of Necker, covered them with black crape, and promenaded them, bareheaded themselves, in the presence of the silent citizens.

Blood flowed; the dead body of one of the citizens who carried the busts, killed by the mob, serving as a standard to the people.