Rao was born in Rewari and is the son of Maharaja Rao Birendra Singh, who served as a second Chief Minister of Haryana.[5] Rao studied at the Lawrence School, Sanawar[6] and the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi where he took a law degree. He is the great-great grandson of Rao Tula Ram, a freedom fighter of India's first war of independence in 1857