Yicong was born in the Aisin Gioro clan as the fifth son of the Daoguang Emperor.
Upon Miankai's death in 1838, Yicong inherited his adoptive father's peerage and became known as "Prince Dun of the First Rank" (惇親王).
When the Xianfeng Emperor died in 1861, Yicong and his seventh brother, Yixuan (Prince Chun), were both in Rehe Province with the emperor, while their sixth brother, Yixin (Prince Gong), was in the imperial capital, Beijing.
Yicong supported Yixin in the Xinyou Coup of 1861 and helped him seize power from a group of eight regents appointed by the Xianfeng Emperor on his deathbed to assist his son, the Tongzhi Emperor.
His great-grandson, Yuyan, was a self-proclaimed successor to Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing dynasty.