He was the third (but second surviving) son of Victor I Amadeus Adolph, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, by his first wife Charlotte Louise, daughter of Wilhelm Moritz, Count of Isenburg-Büdingen-Birstein and Countess Anna Amalie of Isenburg-Wächtersbach.
The death of his elder brother the Hereditary Prince Christian in 1758 made him the new heir of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym.
Fourteen years later, in 1772, Charles Louis succeeded his father in the government of the principality.
When Charles Louis was a young officer in a regiment in the service of the Netherlands, he fell in love with Benjamine Gertrude Keiser [also called Kaiserinn or Keyser] (b. Stevensweert, 1 January 1729 - d. Belleville, near Paris, 6 January 1787), daughter of a Dutch captain.
[1] In Braunfels on 12 December 1765 Charles Louis married Princess Amalie Eleonore (b. Braunfels, 22 November 1734 - d. Schaumburg, 19 April 1811), daughter of Frederick William, Prince of Solms-Braunfels and his second wife Countess Sophia Magdalena Benigna of Solms-Utphe.