Born in Gács (now Halič) on 24 October 1870 into a prominent Hungarian noble family as son of Count Antal Forgách de Ghymes et Gács (1819–1885), who had been of the few Hungarian magnates taking the side of Austria in 1848 and served as Section Chief in the Imperial Foreign Ministry in the 1850s. In 1908, he married Gabriella Lovassy de Szakál (1889–1972) in Budapest and the couple had three children.