Charles Marcus Mander was the only son of Charles Arthur Mander by Monica Neame, of Kent, born at Kilsall Hall, Tong, Shropshire. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, but did not complete his degree following the outbreak of war. He was commissioned in the Coldstream Guards in World War II, serving in North Africa, Belgium, Germany and Italy where, following the Salerno landings, he was gravely wounded in the fierce fighting at Calabritto on the slopes of Monte Camino, in October 1943.