He was born in Verrières-le-Buisson (now in the Essonne department). Educated in a conservative Catholic family, he was a remote cousin of writers Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Louise de Vilmorin, later companion of André Malraux. Estienne d'Orves spent the First World War as a high school student at the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand and the Lycée Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague in Paris, and entered the École Polytechnique in 1921. He joined the "École Navale", (French Naval Academy), two years later, becoming an "enseigne de vaisseau de 2e classe" in October 1923 and joining the school ship "Jeanne d'Arc". He was then an officer on the battleship "Provence", and several other vessels. In 1929, he married Éliane de Lorgeril, with whom he had five children.