Grylls grew up in Donaghadee in County Down, Northern Ireland, until the age of four when his family moved to Bembridge on theIsle of Wight. He is the son of the Conservative party politician Sir Michael Grylls and Lady Sarah Grylls. Lady Grylls was the daughter of Patricia Ford, briefly an Ulster Unionist Party MP, and cricketer and businessman Neville Ford. Grylls has one sibling, an elder sister, Lara Fawcett, a cardio-tennis coach, who gave him the nickname ‘Bear’ when he was a week old.
Grylls was educated at Eaton House, Ludgrove School and Eton College, where he helped start its first mountaineering club, and Birkbeck, University of London, where he graduated with a degree, obtained part-time, in Hispanic studies in 2002. He also graduated from the University of West of England. From an early age, he learned to climb and sail with his father, who was a member of the prestigious Royal Yacht Squadron.
.
bear grylls 