Douglas Hurd was born on 8 March 1930, eldest son of Anthony, Baron Hurd (who died in 1966) and Stephanie Corner (who died in 1985). He was educated at Eton, where he was a King’s Scholar and Newcastle Scholar and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a Major Scholar and also President of the Cambridge Union in 1952. He married 1st, in 1960, Tatiana Elizabeth Michelle (the marriage was dissolved in 1982), daughter of A. C. Benedict Eyre, and they had three sons; then 2nd, in 1982, Judy, daughter of Sidney and Pamela Smart; they had one son and one daughter.

Hurd joined the Diplomatic Service in 1952 and continued with it up until 1966, in posts including: Peking [China] (1954-56); UK Mission to United Nations (1956-60); Private Secretary to Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Foreign Office (1960-63); Rome [Italy] (1963-66).

Hurd then joined the Conservative Research Department in 1966, becoming Head of the Foreign Affairs Section in 1968. He served as Private Secretary to Edward Heath while Heath was Leader of the Opposition (1968-70), then as Heath's Political Secretary when he became Prime Minister (1970-74). Hurd became an MP himself in 1974, winning the Mid-Oxon seat, which he was to hold until 1983, when he became MP for Witney, which he held until his retirement in 1997. His political positions included: Opposition Spokesman on European Affairs (1976-79); Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (1979-83); Minister of State, Home Office (1983-84); Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1984-85); Home Secretary (1985-89); Foreign Secretary (1989-95).