Olivier Bernier was born in the United States of French parents. He lived in Paris from 1945 to 1958 and received his baccalauréat degree there.

In 1962, Mr. Bernier received his B.A. from Harvard College. After a two year stay in Paris during which he translated several books, Mr. Bernier returned to the United States where he attended the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, completing his work for a master's degree in 1966. After being director of exhibitions at the Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, he became a private art dealer in 1968.

In 1977, Mr. Bernier left that profession to become a historian. Since then, he has written Pleasure and Privilege, Life in France, Naples and the United States, 1770 1790 (Doubleday, 1980); Art and Craft, a novel (Seaview Books, 1980); The Eighteenth Century Woman (Doubleday and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1982); Lafayette, Hero of Two Worlds (Dutton, 1983); Louis The Beloved, The Life of Louis XV (Doubleday, 1984), Secrets of Marie Antoinette (Doubleday, 1985), also published in paperback and Louis XIV, A Royal Life (Doubleday, 1987); these books have been widely and favorably reviewed, and have been published in several European countries and Latin America. His Words of Fire, Deeds of Blood, The Mob, The Monarchy and the French Revolution was published by Little, Brown in May, 1989 and came out in paperback in 1990. It also served as the text for a major show curated by Mr. Bernier at the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, which ran from May to August, 1989. His Fireworks at Dusk, Paris in the Nineteen Thirties, was published by Little, Brown in March, 1993. It has been widely and favorably reviewed.

Mr. Bernier's work has also appeared in the New York Times Arts and Leisure Section, the New York Times Travel Section, House and Garden (HG), Antiques, Art and Antiques and other magazines; he has written a monthly column for American Heritage. In 1984, he was chosen as a Literary Lion by the New York Public Library.

Mr. Bernier has been giving two series of sold-out lectures a year at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York since 1982. He has also lectured across the country to museums and women's clubs, appearing, among other places, at the Pierpont Morgan Library, at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., at the National Geographic Society, in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Palm Springs, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Richmond, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Oklahoma City, Boston, Kansas City, Palm Beach and Baltimore.

For the last ten years, he has conducted trips for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Federation of Arts, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Archives of American Art and other similar organizations.

This year, on behalf of the Metropolitan Museum, he has brought one of the first American groups to Libya.

Mr. Bernier was seen extensively on the A&E Biography program on Marie Antoinette. His newest book, The World in 1800, was published in March, 2000; the paperback edition came out in April, 2001. His most recently published texts can be found in Italy, The Best travel Writing from the New York Times. In 2006, Mr. Bernier was awarded the title of chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Government. He is currently at work on a new book.