Born in Vendôme, he was the fifth son of Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, the younger brother of Antoine de Bourbon, who married Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre; their son, Condé's nephew, became Henry IV of France.

As a general in the French army, Condé fought at the siege of Metz in 1552, when Francis, Duke of Guise, successfully defended the city from the forces of Emperor Charles V, and again at the Battle of St. Quentin in 1557. After his conversion to Protestantism, he is suspected to have become involved in the Conspiracy of Amboise in 1560, a plot by the Huguenots and members of the House of Bourbon to abduct the adolescent King Francis II and usurp the power of the House of Guise, who were the leaders of the Catholic party. The plot failed, leading to the massacre of many Huguenots.

Condé commanded the Huguenots in the Wars of Religion and was captured at Dreux in 1562. At Orléans, the duke of Guise was assassinated, and when the Queen's fears that the war might drag on led her to negotiate a truce, Condé negotiated the Peace of Amboise with the Catholic party in 1563, which gave the Huguenots some religious toleration. In another religious civil war, Condé was killed at Jarnac in the Battle of Jarnac, 1569.

His son Henri, also became a Huguenot general.

He married in 1551, Eléanor de Roucy de Roye (1536 - 1564), heiress of Charles de Roye, who had married Madeleine de Maillé, a half-sister of Coligny. She brought as her dowry the château and the small town of Conti-sur-Selles, southwest of Amiens, which would pass to their youngest son, progenitor of the princes de Bourbon-Conti. On 8 Nov 1565 he married Francoise d'Orleans, Mademoiselle de Longueville.