The only sons of his parents to reach adulthood were Albert and his elder brother Philip Louis II.

Albert's son John Ernest was the last male member of the Hanau-Münzenberg line of the House of Hanau.

Albert's mother Magdalena remarried in 1581 to John VII, Count of Nassau-Siegen, the son of his guardian and regent.

Philip V tried to have the Lutheran Duke Richard of Simmern-Sponheim, a younger brother of Elector Palatine Frederick III appointed as co-regent.

Instead, they installed Duke John Casimir of the Palatinate-Simmern as upper guardian, an honorary position, which nevertheless strengthened the Calvinist hold on Hanau-Münzenberg.

A compromise was reached, in which Albert received the districts of Schwarzenfels, Ortenberg, the territories of the former monastery in Naumburg and Hanau's share of Assenheim.

Albert now demanded sovereignty, while Philip Louis II had only granted him economic use of the apanage.