Fairfax was educated at Eton and Downing College, Cambridge (LLB in International Law), is a barrister and was called to the Bar following becoming a member of Gray's Inn (1977).

He is a Freeman of the City of London and a Liveryman of the Shipwrights' Company.

In November 2015, he was elected to return to the House at a Conservative hereditary peers' by-election, following the death of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu (1926–2015).

[2] In 2020, Lord Fairfax endorsed Justin Fairfax, Lieutenant Governor of the U.S. state of Virginia, in his bid for Governor in the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election.

[3] In 1982, he married Annabella Ruth Morriss (born 13 January 1957), eldest daughter of Nicholas and of Sarah Gilham Morriss, of Newmarket, by whom he has three sons:[1] His heir apparent to the title is his eldest son, the Hon.