Bernhard was born in Köln the third son of Prince Frederick Johann of Saxe-Meiningen and Countess Adelaide of Lippe-Biesterfeld.
As his first marriage was morganatic his second son Prince Frederick Konrad succeeded him as head of the ducal house following his death in Bad Krozingen.
Bernhard and his first wife were declared guilty of a Nazi conspiracy against Austria in 1933; he was sentenced to six weeks in prison, while she was placed under house arrest.
[1][2] Bernhard was married morganatically to Margot Grössler (1911–1998), a merchant's daughter from Breslau (today: Wrocław) in Eichenhof im Riesengebirge on 25 April 1931.
They had two children, both of whom had no succession rights: Bernhard married secondly in Ziegenberg über Bad Nauheim on 11 August 1948 to Baroness Vera Schäffer von Bernstein (1914–1994).