Charles Hyde Villiers was educated at Eton and New College, Oxford. For a short period he acted as an assistant to the Rev. P. B. [Tubby] Clayton, of Toc H, London, in 1931, and subsequently worked for Glyn Mills, Bankers.

On the outbreak of World War Two he was mobilised for service with the Grenadier Guards and took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk. He later served in the Special Operations Executive in London and Italy, 1943-45, being parachuted into Yugoslavia [now Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia] and Austria in 1944. He reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was awarded the Military Cross in 1945.

In his post-war business career he was a Partner of Helbert Wagg and Co, 1948-60; Managing Director of J. Henry Schroder Wagg, 1960-68; Managing Director, Industrial Reorganisation Corporation, 1968-71; Chairman, Guinness Mahon & Co. Ltd, 1971-76; Chairman, Northern Ireland Finance Corporation, 1972-73; Executive Deputy Chairman, Guinness Peat Group, 1973-76; Chairman: British Steel Corporation, 1976-80; and Chairman BSC (Industry), 1977-89.

He was knighted in 1975 and published "Start again, Britain" in 1984.