Charles II spent his exile in The Hague in the Dutch Republic. On 22 May 1660, the eve of his departure for Britain, a banquet was held in his honour at the Mauritshuis, hosted by Prince Maurice of Nassau and the States of Holland. This seems to be the event depicted here although these interiors cannot be matched to any known from other sources of this date either in the Mauritshuis or elsewhere. This would seem to be a fanciful evocation of the event rather than an accurate record, and may have been painted to satisfy the curiosity of the ‘open market’ rather than in response to a commission by any of those present. The work only entered the Royal Collection in 1828.

Charles II is shown twice, dancing in the outer room with his sister Mary, Princess of Orange and dining in the inner room sitting next to her. Other identified figures include Mary’s ten-year-old son, William (subsequently King William III) seen centrally between the two ladies in black; Charles’s brothers, James, Duke of York (see over his left shoulder) and Henry, Duke of Gloucester (seen over Mary’s left shoulder). The man standing between Charles and the inner room is probably the host for the evening, John Maurice, Prince of Nassau.

Prints of the Mauristhuis dinner show Charles seated between two ladies – his sister, Mary, and aunt, the Queen of Bohemia - around a table otherwise filled with men, who look more like those sitting under the canopy in this painting. The elegant couples disporting themselves on the floor around the foreground here do not seem to belong to such an occasion. This scene is probably imaginary and is perhaps intended to suggest that Charles II is joining the fashionable throng who have come to watch the event from an outer room. This might explain why dancing is depicted at an occasion which was certainly not a ball.

Charles II and Mary are dancing the French courante, which was described by a dancing master in 1725 as a 'very solemn Dance' which 'gives a more grand and noble Air than other Dances'. They are accompanied by a violin band, seen to the far left of the painting and consisting of three violins, a viola and two bass violins (the precursor of the violoncello). Female dress at this time was very stuff and formal, the bodices tightly boned with sleeves set deeply into the back. This would have restricted a woman's movement and made raising the arms overhead impossible.