[2] Rakić was born on 18 September 1876 in Belgrade to father Mita and mother Ana (née Milićević).

His father, educated abroad, was Serbia's Minister of Finance (1888) and his mother was the daughter of Serbian writer Milan Milićević.

After returning to Belgrade from Paris he became a diplomat (also like Dučić) for the Serbian (and later Yugoslav) government and remained in that job until nearly his death, representing the country abroad.

[3] His first diplomatic posting was Skopje in Ottoman Macedonia during the turbulent time of the Macedonian Struggle where Serbs, Turks, schismatic Exarchists and their Komitaji, Greek Andart cheta groups, and Albanian Kachaks all vied for supremacy.

[4] His sister Ljubica was married to Milan Grol; and his wife Milica was the daughter of Ljubomir Kovačević, a distinguished Serbian historian and politician.