He was the seventh but fourth surviving son of Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen (of Saxe-Altenburg from 1826) and Duchess Charlotte Georgine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Eduard accompanied his nephew Otto to Greece as head of the Bavarian military contingent.

After the London Conference of 1832 had decided that Greece should have a monarchy, it was offered to Otto, who accepted, and he became the first King of the newly independent Greece in 1832, and the Bavarians led by Otto arrived in the same year.

[1] Eduard's stay in Greece was brief, however, and he had returned to Bavaria by 1834, where he served as a senior officer.

He served as a commander of the Bavarian forces in the First Schleswig War on the side of the German Confederation.