Charles Crawford was born 22 May 1954, son of Graham and Edith Crawford. He was educated at St Alban’s School, then studied law at St John's College, University of Oxford (1976), taking his Bar exams at Lincoln's Inn (1977) and taking an MA at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Boston (1979). In 1990 he married Helen Walsh, having two sons (one deceased).

Crawford entered the Diplomatic Service in 1979, and his career included the following: Foreign and Commonwealth Office (South East Asia Department), 1979-80; 2nd, then 1st Secretary, Belgrade [Yugoslavia, later Serbia], 1981-84; FCO speechwriter, 1985-87; 1st Secretary, Pretoria and Cape Town [South Africa], 1987-91; FCO (Soviet, then Eastern Department), 1991-93; Political Counsellor, Moscow [Soviet Union], 1993-96; Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1996-98; Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard [United States], 1998-99; Deputy Political Director, FCO, 1999-2000; Director (South East Europe), FCO, 2000; Ambassador to Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, [subsequently Serbia and Montenegro then Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo], 2001-03; Ambassador to Poland, 2003-07.