Emmanuel Lebrecht was born six months after the death of his father on 8 November 1670 and was declared ruler of Anhalt-Köthen under the regency of his mother immediately at birth. The Dowager Princess Anna Eleonore ruled over Köthen for almost twenty years, until her death in 1690, and then John George II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, succeeded her in the regency for the next two years, until January 1692, when Emmanuel Lebrecht was formally proclaimed an adult and took over the government of his lands.
