He was educated at Harrow under Samuel Parr and attended Oriel College, Oxford where he graduated as a Doctor of Medicine in 1787.

He attended on George III in a joint consultation of specialists during the king's second illness in 1811–12,[1] although Queen Charlotte ensured that his further involvement did not extend beyond that of a passive observer.

[2] Monro was also known as a patron to numerous artists (including Peter De Wint, Thomas Girtin, John Sell Cotman and William Turner).

[1] The group of artists around him was known as 'The Monro Circle' and included students from his 'Academy' in London, where evening classes were given.

Coincidentally, Monro's distant kinsman Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar would later be one of Turner's chief patrons.