Prince Ferdinand was born at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen on 22 November 1792 as the youngest child of Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark and Norway and Sophie Frederikke of Mecklenburg, thus being a grandson of late King Frederick V of Denmark and Norway.

His uncle King Christian VII being mentally unstable, his father had acted as regent after the fall of Johann Friedrich Struensee in 1772.

Prince Ferdinand married at Frederiksberg Palace on 1 August 1829 his first cousin once removed, Princess Caroline of Denmark (1793–1881).

The number of male members of the Royal House was so low in those decades that Ferdinand himself was always very close to the succession.

Ferdinand died childless, which was one of the reasons why the main branch of the Danish Royal House soon became extinct, triggering the second war of Schleswig.