As a younger son, Philip was originally destined for a career in the church, but after his elder brother Philip I died, he left the clergy for dynastic reasons and ruled the County of Waldeck as regent for his underage nephew Henry VIII.
In 1505, Duke William IV of Jülich-Berg allowed Philip II as his governor to operate mines in the districts of Ravensberg and Sparrenberg.
In 1507, he acquired Steffenburg Castle, which had been constructed in Adorf by Curd von Ense in the early 16th Century.
On 3 November 1478, he married his first wife, Catherine (d. 1492), the daughter of Count Kuno of Solms-Lich and Walpurgis of Dhaun.
He had six children with her: In 1497, he married Catherine of Querfurt (died: 1521 in Kelbra), the widow of Count Günther XXXVIII of Schwarzburg-Blankenburg.