He was born at Sompuis, near Vitry-le-François (in modern-day Marne), the son of Anthony Royer, a small businessman.

He returned to Sompuis, and was saved from arrest possibly by the protection of Georges Danton and in some degree by his mother's influence on the local commissary of the Convention.

He made a well-regarded speech in the council in defence of the principles of religious liberty, but the Coup of 18 Fructidor (4 September 1797) drove him back into private life.

[4] It was at this period that he developed his legitimist opinions and entered into communication with the Comte de Provence (Louis XVIII of France).

He derived his opposition to the philosophy of Étienne Bonnot de Condillac chiefly from the study of René Descartes and his followers, and from his early veneration for the fathers of Port-Royal.

Royer-Collard's acceptance of the legitimist principle did not prevent a faithful adhesion to the social revolution effected in 1789, and he protested in 1815, in 1820, and again under the Monarchy of July against laws of exception.

Whilst during the first half of the nineteenth century the word "liberal" was generally synonymous with Voltaireanism and hostility to the Jesuits, certain speeches of Royer-Collard quoted by Barante show that he professed a deferential attachment for the Church.