His father had acquired the County of Tyrol (as Meinhard I) upon the death of his father-in-law in 1253 and already had attempted to gain control over neighbouring Carinthian lands against the forces of Duke Bernhard von Spanheim.

After their father's death in 1258, Meinhard II and his brother emerged from the Salzburg custody at Hohenwerfen Castle to secure their Gorizia-Tyrol heritage.

After Ottokar's defeat in the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld, King Rudolf formally elevated Meinhard to a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire and finally vested him with the Duchy of Carinthia as a fief at the Imperial Diet of Augsburg in 1286.

[2] As far as can be ascertained, he had no ancestry in earlier Carinthian ducal families, whereas he was a distant descendant of some early Meranian lords of Istria and Carniola.

His younger son Henry succeeded him as Carinthian duke and in 1307 was even elected King of Bohemia; his eldest daughter Elisabeth by her marriage with Albert of Habsburg became German queen in 1298.

Meinhard's wife from 1258 was Elisabeth of Wittelsbach,[3] the daughter of Duke Otto II of Bavaria and widow of King Conrad IV of Germany.