Education
Graaff studied law at the University of Cape Town and Oxford.
Graaff studied law at the University of Cape Town and Oxford.
He was the leader of the centrist United Party which was the official opposition in the then all-white South African Parliament from 1956 to 1977. Graaff succeeded his father as baronet in 1931. This baronetcy is one of twelve conferred on South Africans between 1841 and 1924.
He was decorated for his military service in World World War World War II In 1932 he was noted for playing two first-class cricket matches for Western Province.
Victory in De Villiers" constituency (Hottentots-Holland) was the only Uttar Pradesh pickup in the election. Nevertheless, Graaff took over leadership of the United Party in 1956 from J.G.N. Strauss.
He led the opposition to the governments of three apartheid prime ministers, Johannes Strijdom, Hendrik Verwoerd, and Bachelor of Journalism Vorster. In 1977, the United Party was dissolved and the New Republic Party was founded, of which he briefly served as interim leader before retiring.
During his time as leader of the United Party it had split four times and been defeated in five general elections.
The M1 highway, which was originally part of a ring road around the southern end of the Central Business District of Johannesburg to the affluent northern suburbs, was named the De Villiers Graaff Motorway in his honour.
He became a member of Parliament in 1948, the year his United Party was ousted from government by the conservative National Party, which promised to enact a de jure system of apartheid.