Mecklenburg. He was a son of Marie Wilhelmine Friederike Johanna von Waldow (1817-1911) and Friedrich Heinrich Johann Paul von Bülow (1807-74), a Prussian Lieutenant colonel.

His paternal grandfather was Karl Johann Heinrich von Bülow (1769-1813), a Prussian major and commander of the Leibgrenadier battalion who was killed at Groß-Görschen during the German campaign of 1813.