Ivar Huitfeldt was born in the Norwegian town of Halden. He lost his mother at the age of six and his father died six years later. Both his parents died in his childhood years and he was therefore later raised by his stepmother with whom he moved to the Norwegian area of Hurum. At the age of 16 he sent an application to Christian V of Denmark-Norway in which Ivar Huitfeldt applied to join the navy. It was granted and he started the trainee programme of the Dano-Norwegian navy. As a part of the trainee period he first served in the Dutch fleet before later joining the French fleet.