A son of Sir Lancelot Royle, a wealthy businessman, he was educated at Harrow and RMA Sandhurst.

He contracted polio on his way to Korea and was invalided back to UK and spent a year in an iron lung.

[1] After recovering, his father provided funding for him to become a member of Lloyd's of London, building upon his start in 1948 with insurance broker Sedgwick Collins.

In 1974 his father passed on his boardroom seats at British Match Corporation, Brooke Bond Liebig and Wilkinson Sword.

[1] He acted as an informal liaison from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to Keenie Meenie Services, one of Britain's first private military companies formed by ex-SAS members.