Unlike his father, the young prince was not interested in politics; he studied at the University of Geneva from 1677 to 1678 and afterwards went on a Grand Tour from Switzerland to France and the Netherlands.

Moreover, his right of succession was contested by Rudolph Augustus' son-in-law Duke John Adolphus of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön.

The prince temporarily retired to Langeleben in the Elm hill range, where he had a hunting lodge erected, probably according to plans designed by Hermann Korb.

In 1690 he gave his consent to cede the Brunswick County of Blankenburg to his younger brother Louis Rudolph, thus violating the Welf primogeniture principle.

Despite his marriages, he claimed to have been introduced to the "art" of homosexuality in Venice; later falling in love with Raugrave Karl Ludwig von der Pfalz,[1][2] half-brother of Princess Elizabeth Charlotte.