However, due to the lack of a primogeniture rule, his three sons had to govern jointly: Anton Ulrich and his two older half-brothers, Ernst Ludwig and Friedrich Wilhelm.

Since Anton Ulrich's aunt on his mother's side was the wife of Emperor Karl VI he made some progress in his attempts to make his offspring entitled to inherit.

Although his relatives at Weimar and Gotha were already discussing the division of Saxe-Meiningen after his death, Anton Ulrich married again and succeeded in fathering another eight children - all of them eligible for inheritance.

[1] Immediately after he inherited the duchy, Anton Ulrich left Meiningen and established his official residence at Frankfurt, where he lived until his death on 27 January 1763.

They had ten children, all created Prince/Princess of Saxe-Meiningen (Fürst/Fürstin): In Bad Homburg vor der Höhe on 26 September 1750, Anton Ulrich married Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Philippsthal, who was forty-three years his junior.