His mother was Mary, daughter of Sir Ronald Campbell.

Sutherland was educated at Eton and Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester (Gloucestershire).

Most of Sutherland's wealth is in the form of the art collection put together by the first Duke's uncle, Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, which had been inherited by the Ellesmere line of the family.

[2] In the 2020 edition of the list, his net worth was estimated to be £585 million.

[3] Sutherland married Victoria Mary Williams, born in Newbury on 21 June 1946, daughter of Major-General Alexander Williams and wife Sybilla Margaret Archdale, in Winterborne Monkton, Dorset, on 11 May 1974.