He was the son of Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, Prince of Carignano and his wife, Maria Angela Caterina d'Este.

Made a Knight of the Annunciation in 1696, he married, at Moncalieri on 7 November 1714, Marie Victoire Françoise of Savoy (1690–1766), legitimised daughter of Victor Amadeus II of Piedmont-Sardinia, King of Piedmont-Sardinia and of Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes, Countess of Verrue.

His father-in-law showed affection for him but ended up depriving him, in 1717, of his 400,000 livres of annual income because of excessive spending.

Next to his mother-in-law, Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes, Countess of Verrue, he counted in the 1730s among the most influential amateurs and art collectors in Paris.

He brought about the disgrace of the tax farmer Alexandre Le Riche de La Poupelinière after he caught him in the company of his mistress, the actress Marie Antier.