He was the son of Lt.-Col. Frederick Charles Strickland-Constable (1860–1917)[1] and Margaret Elizabeth Pakenham (1874–1961) of Wassand Hall, Hull.
His sister, Hilary, married Henry John Ralph Bankes of Kingston Lacy and Corfe Castle,[2] and his younger brother was Robert Frederick Strickland-Constable,[3] a Lieutenant-Commander in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve during World War II.
[4] His paternal grandparents were Henry Strickland-Constable (son of Sir George Strickland, 7th Baronet)[5] and the former Cornelia Charlotte Anne Dumaresq (daughter of Col. Henry Dumaresq and Lady Elizabeth Sophia Butler-Danvers, half-sister to the 5th Earl of Lanesborough).
[4] He was educated at Eton before attending Magdalen College, Oxford, where he obtained a Bachelor of Music degree.
[6][7] On 24 July 1929, he married Countess Ernestine Caroline Valerie Antoinette von Rex (1905–1995), at St. Luke's Church, Munich.