He graduated in arts from St. Stephens College, University of Delhi and went on to Corpus Christi College in Cambridge followed by Peking University in China. Later he served the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) for 30 years from 1952 to 1983.

Mr. Natwar Singh has travelled all over the world during his service. One of his first assignments was in Peking. He was then posted to New York - with the Permanent Mission of India, (1961-66) and as India's representative to the Executive Board of UNICEF, (1962-66) he was then posted to the Prime Minister's Secretariat under Ms. Indira Gandhi.

He served as the Executive Trustee, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (U.N.I.T.A.R.) He was also appointed by the Secretary-General, United Nations for six years (1981-86). He served on the Expert Group appointed by the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, London in 1982. He was appointed Secretary-General of the Seventh Non-aligned summit in New Delhi held in 1983 and Chief Coordinator of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in New Delhi in the same year.

He served as Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs from March 1982 to November 1984. He was elected President of the UN Conference on Disarmament and Development held in New York in 1987. He led the Indian delegation to the 42nd Session of the UN General Assembly.

Not only was Mr. Natwar Singh a committed IFS officer, he also had a keen interest in sports and played at the national level in tennis, hockey, cricket, football and athletics in college days.