In the early 1870s, as the Second Empire collapsed following its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War at the
battle of Sedan, on 1 September 1870, the royalists became a majority in the National Assembly. The Orléanists agreed to support the comte de Chambord's claim to the throne, with the hope that at his death he would be succeeded by their own claimant, the nine-year-old Count of Paris, Philippe d'Orléans. Henri was then pretender for both legitimists and Orléanists and the restoration of Monarchy in France seemed to be a close possibility. However, Henri insisted that he would only accept the crown on condition that France abandon its
tricolour flag and return to the use of the white
fleur-de-lis flag. Even a compromise, whereby the fleur-de-lis would be the new king's personal standard, and the tricolour would remain the national flag, was rejected.