He was born Christopher de Lerisson Cazenove, on 17 December 1943, the son of Brigadier Arnold de Lerisson Cazenove and Elizabeth Laura (née Gurney, 1914–1994) in Winchester, Hampshire, but was brought up in Bowlish, Somerset. He was educated at the Dragon School, Eton College, Durham University's College of the Venerable Bede and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.