Chartres was reared alongside Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, later famous for his memoirs and defense of the rights of the peerage of France; Saint-Simon often accompanied the duke, and his wife was later a lady-in-waiting to Philippe's daughter, Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, duchesse de Berry.
In May 1685 the duc de Chartres, then just ten years old, made his first public appearance at Versailles; the occasion was the arrival of the Doge of Genoa, Francesco Maria Lercari Imperiale, at the French court.