Background
He was the sixth (but second surviving) son of Christian II, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg, by his wife Eleonore Sophie, daughter of John the Younger, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg. The death of his older brother, the Hereditary Prince Erdmann Gideon (4 April 1649), made Victor Amadeus the new heir of his father, whom he succeeded seven years later, in 1656.