Background
He was the fourth (but third surviving) son of Victor I Amadeus Adolph, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, by his first wife Charlotte Louise, daughter of William Maurice, Count of Isenburg-Büdingen-Birstein.
He was the fourth (but third surviving) son of Victor I Amadeus Adolph, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, by his first wife Charlotte Louise, daughter of William Maurice, Count of Isenburg-Büdingen-Birstein.
The death of his elder surviving brother the Hereditary Prince Christian in 1758 made Franz Adolph the heir presumptive of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, preceded only by his other older brother and new heir, Karl Louis. He retained his position as heir presumptive until the birth of Karl Louis"s first son, Victor Karl Frederick, in 1767.