He was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, where he received a BA and an MA.

He was a crossbencher and was internally elected to continue serving after the House of Lords Act 1999 prevented most hereditary peers from sitting.

[2] His heir was Jonathan Robert Hugh Walpole (born 16 November 1967), a writer.

His father's net estate at his death in February 1989 was sworn as £2,065,295 (equivalent to £6,490,000 in 2023).

He lived nearby at Mannington Hall, a house owned by his family since the 18th century.