Henry was a younger son of Count Meinhard II of Görz-Tyrol and Elizabeth of Bavaria, widow of King Conrad IV of Germany.

In 1276 Count Meinhard married his eldest daughter, Henry's sister Elizabeth, to Albert, son of King Rudolph I of Germany, and in turn was enfeoffed with the Duchy of Carinthia in 1286.

He secured his position by supporting his brother-in-law Albert I of Habsburg, who thereby was able to defeat rivalling Adolf of Nassau at the 1298 Battle of Göllheim and was elected King of the Romans in the same year.

Tensions with the House of Habsburg arose when Henry married the Přemyslid princess Anne, the elder sister of King Wenceslaus III of Bohemia, in 1306.

In 1310, Henry VII arranged the marriage of his eldest son John with Elizabeth, the younger sister of the late King Wenceslaus II.

Centred in a compact territory between Villach and Tarvis, these possessions enjoyed the status of a virtually sovereign principality, and had a crucial geostrategic position on the only major route from Carinthia to Friuli and Italy.

Despite his deposition, Henry continued to claim the title of king of Bohemia and the accompanying electoral dignity, voting for Habsburg candidate Frederick the Fair during the 1314 double election of the Holy Roman Emperor at Frankfurt.

Henry's daughter Margaret could only succeed him in Tyrol with the support of the local nobles; however, in 1363 she ultimately had to bequeath her lands to Albert's II son Duke Rudolf IV of Austria as well.