He was educated at Westminster School and the University of Göttingen, and then studied law at Lincoln's Inn, but hardly practised as a barrister.

He hoped to gain office as Under-secretary of State to Charles James Fox, but he was in opposition.

In 1805, he made a disastrous marriage to Angélique Gabrielle, daughter of the marquis de l'Escuyer d'Hazincourt (known as ‘Talleyrand's spy’), but this kept him out of office when Fox returned to government.

As British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, he reported on the case of the Elgin marbles.

This exploit won for him the rank of GCB and a pension of £2000 per year from 1831, and also the grand'cross of the Belgian order of Leopold in 1835.