Carl Friedrich Wilhelm was the eldest son of Friedrich Magnus, Count of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hartenburg (1703–1756), and his wife, Countess Anna Christine Eleonore von Wurmbrand-Stuppach (1698–1763).

In 1801, he was deprived of his lands on the left bank of the Rhine, namely Hardenburg, Dagsburg and Durkheim, by France, but in 1803 received the secularized Amorbach Abbey as an ample compensation for these losses.

Hitherto his titles were: Imperial Prince of Leiningen, Count palatine of Mosbach, Count of Düren, Lord of Miltenberg, Amorbach, Bischofsheim, Boxberg, Schüpf and Lauda.

A few years later, the short-lived Principality of Leiningen at Amorbach was mediatized into the Kingdom of Bavaria.

On 24 June 1749, the Prince married his first cousin Countess Christiane Wilhelmine Luise of Solms-Rödelheim and Assenheim (1736–1803), daughter of Wilhelm Carl Ludwig, Count of Solms-Rödelheim and Assenheim (1699–1778), by his wife, Countess Maria Margareta Leopolda von Wurmbrand-Stuppach (1701–1756).