Conrad, born in Andria, is the second but only surviving son of the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II and the queen regnant of Jerusalem, Isabella II (Yolanda), who dies while giving birth to him.

He is also the grandson of Emperor Henry VI through his father and great-grandson of Emperor Frederick I. Conrad had lived in Italy until 1235, when he had first visited Germany.

During this period, his kingdom of Jerusalem, ruled by his father as regent through proxies, will be wracked by the War of the Lombards until Conrad declares his majority and his father's regency loses its validity.

When Frederick II deposes his eldest son, Conrad's rebellious older brother Henry, in 1237 in the midst of the struggle between his father and the papacy, the Emperor has Conrad elected King of the Romans in diet in Vienna.

This title presumes a future as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.