His mother Fiona is the daughter of Harold Phillips and Georgina, Lady Kennard, and a sister of the Duchesses of Abercorn and Westminster.

[1] Burnett is a fourth-great-grandson of Nicholas I of Russia on his mother's side, and is thus a fourth cousin once removed of King Charles III.

After graduating Burnett worked for a decade in Azerbaijan,[3] before returning to Scotland where he started a number of businesses with his family, including property developer North Banchory Limited and its biomass renewable energy subsidiary Hill of Banchory ESCo Limited (HoBESCo).

[4] Aside from this, Burnett is also the owner of an estate in Aberdeenshire, and the beneficiary of a couple of property-owning trusts, that in total have an estimated value of almost £30 million.

[11] The Scotsman reported that the seat had been forecast to produce a close contest and his holding of it was seen as "a significant blow to the hopes of an outright SNP majority" in the Scottish Parliament as a result of the election.