Peter Alford Andrews was born in Lyme Regis, Dorset in 1936. He trained as an architect before undertaking his PhD study at the Department of the Near and Middle East, Faculty of Arts, SOAS, University of London, under Mary Boyce (also a Richard Burton Medal winner RAS BMM/14) researching _The Felt tent in Middle Asia: The Nomadic Tradition and its Interpenetration with Princely Tentage_. Since his initial research Peter Andrews has continued to undertake further research on nomadic tents while continuing to lecture and hold academic research posts. He was married to Mügül (Ataç) Andrews from 1967 until her death in 2016.

Mügül Ataç Andrews, was an expert on oriental embroidery, and with her husband Peter Alford Andrews, dedicated much of her life to studying Eurasian nomadic and urban tents. She married Peter in 1967 and they had two sons.