Meyer-Landrut was born in 1960 and was awarded his PhD in history, examining the role of France in German reunification, at the University of Cologne in 1988.

In 1987, Meyer-Landrut joined the German foreign office under the third cabinet of the conservative chancellor Helmut Kohl.

From 1995 to 1999 Meyer-Landrut was deputy chief of the central ministerial office in Bonn, responsible for the Amsterdam Treaty and the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union among other things attached to that portfolio.

[2] From February 2011 until mid-2015, Meyer-Landrut served as chief adviser to Merkel on European affairs,[3] thereby succeeding Uwe Corsepius.

In 2018, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas vetoed Merkel's plan to appoint Meyer-Landrut as Germany's Permanent Representative to the European Union in Brussels.