He was educated at Winchester College, Kingsgate House (K), Christ Church, Oxford, obtaining a law degree, and Bonn University, where he studied music.

[2] He served in the Second World War as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was twice Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the Croix de Guerre.

After the war, he served in the Conservative administrations of Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden as a government whip from 1952 to 1954 and as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department from 1954 to 1957.

They have three children: Diana Lloyd was married before to Richard Bridges St. John Quarry.

They have two daughters: Venetia, Mrs Frederick Barker, then Viscountess Wimborne (born 1942),[6] and Miranda, Countess of Stockton (1947–2020).