Andrew Wood was born on 2 January 1940, son of Robert George Wood. He was educated at Ardingly College, then King’s College, Cambridge (MA 1965). In 1972 he married 1st, Melanie LeRoy Masset (she died in 1977), having one son; then 2nd in 1978, Stephanie Lee Masset; they have one son and one daughter.

Wood entered the Foreign Office in 1961 and his diplomatic career included: Moscow [Soviet Union] (1964); Washington [United States] (1967); Foreign and Commonwealth Office (1970); seconded to Cabinet Office (1971); First Secretary, FCO (1973); First Secretary and Head of Chancery, Belgrade [Serbia, earlier Yugoslavia] (1976); Counsellor (1978); Head of Chancery, Moscow (1979); Head of West European Department (1982), Head of Personnel Operations Department (1983), FCO; Ambassador to Yugoslavia [later Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia] (1985-89); Minister, Washington (1989-92); Chief Clerk, FCO (1992-95); Ambassador to the Russian Federation and to Moldova (1995-2000).