Peregrine Rhodes was born 14 May 1925, the son of Cyril Edmunds Rhodes and Elizabeth Jocelyn Rhodes. He was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford (taking a 1st class BA in classics). In 1951 he married 1st, Jane Marion Hassell (the marriage was later dissolved), having two sons and one daughter; 2nd, in 1969, Margaret Rosemary Page.

After serving with the Coldstream Guards, (1944-47), Rhodes joined the Foreign Office in 1950 and his career included: 2nd Secretary, Rangoon [Burma, later Myanmar], (1953-56); Private Secretary to Minister of State, (1956-59); 1st Secretary, Vienna [Austria], (1959-62); 1st Secretary, Helsinki [Finland], (1962-65); Foreign and Commonwealth Office, (1965-68), Counsellor (1967); Institute for Study of International Organisation, Sussex University, (1968-69); Counsellor, Rome, (1970-73); Chargé d’Affaires, East Berlin [East Germany, later part of Germany], (1973-75); on secondment as Under Secretary, Cabinet Office (Chief of Assessments Staff), (1975-78); High Commissioner, Cyprus, (1979-82); Ambassador to Greece, (1982-85). He died on 7 March 2005.