He belonged to a cadet branch of the Czetwertyński family, historically one of the princely houses of Poland and Lithuania.

[1] He was a pupil at the Realschule in Riga and was a member of the Polish student fraternity Arkonia.

During World War II, he was a prisoner of Nazi Germany, and was imprisoned at Buchenwald and Auschwitz concentration camps.

He died of exhaustion barely two months after liberation, having newly arrived in the United Kingdom.

Światopełk-Czetwertyński was married to Zofia Przeździecka; their son Włodzimierz (1907–1965) and elder grandchildren were born in Poland, but during World War II, they fled to Britain, eventually taking up residence in North America.