Carte-de-visite head and shoulders photograph of Bernhard III when Hereditary Prince of Saxe Meiningen, in a vignette format. The subject is shown from a frontal viewpoint, with his head turned towards the right of the image. He is wearing Prussian army uniform, adorned with two cross medals.

He was the last reigning Duke of Saxe Meiningen and the eldest son of Georg II and his first wife Princess Charlotte Frederica of Prussia. He had one full sister, Princess Marie Elisabeth and several half-brothers by his father's second marriage.