He was born in London, the son of politician and diplomat Otto Christian Archibald von Bismarck and Swedish socialite Ann-Mari Tengbom.
When his father was released from the foreign service because of his contacts with the resistance group in November 1944, Ferdinand was sent to Sweden and did not return to Germany until 1947.
[citation needed] He managed his family's estate there, including the Sachsenwald, a forest of 6,000 hectares near Hamburg.
He founded the „Marbella Hill Club“, a settlement of luxurious villas, and also acquired the „Park Palace“, a huge tenement building in Monte Carlo.
Among the visitors of Friedrichsruh were also the kings Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and Juan Carlos I of Spain with their wives, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.