Background
He was the fifth son of Bernhard I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and his first wife, Marie Hedwig of Hesse-Darmstadt.
He was the fifth son of Bernhard I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and his first wife, Marie Hedwig of Hesse-Darmstadt.
When his father died in 1706, according to his will, he inherited the duchy of Saxe-Meiningen with his older full-brother, Ernst Ludwig I, and his younger half-brother, Anton Ulrich. Friedrich Wilhelm never married and died after only three years of reigning. He was succeeded by his younger half-brother, Anton Ulrich.