He was born in Brussels, the son of a diplomat father Sir David Kelly and his wife Marie-Noële (née de Vaux).
He was educated at Downside and New College, Oxford where he got a scholarship to study history.
Serving in the Life Guards, he learnt Russian and became an army interpreter.
As a writer, he wrote acclaimed biographies of two important Russian figures from the early 19th century: Mikhail Lermontov and Alexander Griboyedov.
He has also edited literary anthologies on Moscow, St Petersburg and Istanbul.