Kammala jumla mai zuwa: An haifi Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie a Paris a ranar 6 ga Janairu, 1900 kuma bayan ya yi karatu a makarantar sakandare mai zaman kanta Sainte-Geneviève a Versailles, ya shiga École Navale (makarantar sojan ruwan Faransa, mai kula da ilimin jami'an sojan ruwan Faransa) a shekarar 1919. Da ya yi murabus daga rundunar sojan ruwa a shekarar 1931, d'Astier ya fara aiki a aikin jarida, yana rubutu don "Marianne" da "VU". Tare da barkewar Yaƙin Duniya na II a 1939, an tattara shi don yin aiki a cibiyar de renseignements maritimes de Lorient (Ingilishi: cibiyar ba da bayanan ruwa na Lorient), arewa maso yammacin Faransa har zuwa faduwar Faransa a 1940. Ƙin yarda da
yarjejeniya tare da Jamus, ya kafa ƙungiyar Resistance (Ingilishi: Last Column), yana wallafa farfagandar adawa da haɗin gwiwa tare da Jamus, kuma ya yi aiki a matsayin editan jaridar "La Montagne". Bayan da aka kashe Last Column ta hanyar kamawa a 1941, ya shiga ɓoye a ƙarƙashin sunan "Bernard". A shekara ta 1943, bayan ganawa a London tare da Charles de Gaulle, kuma a Washington tare da Shugaban Amurka Roosevelt, don tabbatar da samuwar da kuma amincewa da Free French Forces, ya sake ziyartar London a matsayin Kwamishinan Harkokin Siyasa na le Directoire des Mouvements unis de Résistance (Ingilishi: Directory of United Movements of Resistance).