Stuart Laing was born 22 July 1948, son of Dr Denys Laing and Dr Judy Laing (née Dods). He was educated at Rugby School and Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge (MA, MPhil), and in 1972, married Sibella Dorman, daughter of Sir Maurice Dorman, GCMG, GCVO, having one son and two daughters.

Laing joined the Diplomatic Service in 1970 and his career included the following posts: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1970-71; MECAS, Lebanon, 1971-72; 2nd Secretary, Jedda [Saudi Arabia], 1973-75; 1st Secretary, UK Permanent Representative to EC, 1975-78; FCO, 1978-83; Cairo [Egypt], 1983-87; FCO, 1987-89; Counsellor, Prague [Czechoslovakia, later Czech Republic and Slovakia], 1989-92; Deputy Head of Mission and HM Consul-General, British Embassy, Riyadh, 1992-95; Head, Know How Fund for Central Europe, FCO, later DFID, 1995-98; High Commissioner to Brunei, 1998-2002; Ambassador to Oman, 2002-05; Ambassador to Kuwait, 2005-08. Following his retirement from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Laing served as Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 2008-18.