He was a son of the general consul and Dutch minister in Japan Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek, and Bonne Elisabeth Royer.

De Graeff was an unorthodox man of a Remonstrant background, who was mistakenly assumed to be a CHU sympathizer.

Between 1890 and 1895 he studied law at Leiden University, where he met his friends for life, Johan Paul Count of Limburg Stirum and Jhr.

There, de Graeff tried in vain to conduct an ethical regime that catered to moderate nationalists.

Throughout 1936, de Graeff served as a "sort of stooge"[3] to British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden in relation to the question of weakening the League of Nations.