 Rodd was the second son of Lilias Georgina Guthrie (1864–1951) and Sir Rennell Rodd, a diplomat and politician who was ennobled in 1933 as Baron Rennell.Among his sibling were Francis Rodd, 2nd Baron Rennell (who married the Hon.Mary Constance Vivian Smith), Evelyn Emmet, Baroness Emmet of Amberley (a Conservative politician and was created a life peer), Hon.