Bernhard attended the University of Jena from February until November Subsequently, he was pulled into political affairs when his father sent him to Paris in order to strengthen the relations of Ernestine line with the King Louis XIV , hopefully through a marriage.
The French king, however, made him wait eighteen months for an audience. Shortly after, the couple moved to Jena , where their five children were born:. The marriage of Bernhard and Marie Charlotte was totally unhappy, and, as they were seemingly irreconcilable, the duke had decided to marry one of the ladies of his court, Marie Elisabeth of Kospoth.
He solemnly promised that he would divorce his wife and marry her, and she ceded to his advances. They had one daughter:. Meanwhile, Bernhard's efforts to have his marriage annulled were unsuccessful, as no theologian or jurist could give him grounds for divorce ; and he appeared to reconcile himself with Marie Charlotte. Then, in , they were married by a former Jesuit priest named Andreas Wigand, converted to Lutheranism in Thus, Bernhard became one of the few cases of bigamy among princes.
The contract declared the children to be legitimate and noble, until such time as an Imperial Act could bring them to a higher rank. She was given as Morgengabe a sum of 20, Taler and assigned the Schloss Dornburg as her residence. She was obliged to keep the marriage secret until the death of the duke's first wife; should she reveal it, the duke would cease to be bound by the contract.
When Bernhard died, at the age of 39, was succeeded by his only surviving son Johann Wilhelm, born of his first wife after their reconciliation in Marie Elisabeth obtained her Morgengabe , not without some difficulty.
