Born in Stuttgart, he was the eldest son of Frederick Charles, Duke of Württemberg-Winnental and his wife, Margravine Eleonore Juliane of Brandenburg-Ansbach.

After 13 years of autocratically ruling over Serbia, in 1733 Charles Alexander inherited the Duchy of Württemberg from his cousin, Eberhard Louis.

Although the story of Duke Karl Alexander and Joseph Süß Oppenheimer constituted a relatively obscure episode in German history, it became the subject of a number of literary and dramatic treatments over the course of more than a century; the earliest of these having been Wilhelm Hauff's 1827 novella, titled Jud Süß.

[2] The most successful literary adaptation was Lion Feuchtwanger's 1925 novel titled Jud Süß based on a play that he had written in 1916 but subsequently withdrew.

[3] Charles Alexander and his relationship with Oppenheimer is fictionally portrayed in Veit Harlan's 1940 Nazi propaganda film titled Jud Süß.