The Queen of Portugal is depicted wearing the ribbon of the Orders of Christ, St Benedict of Avis and St James of the Sword. She was the daughter of Pedro IV, King Portugal, who had abdicated in 1826. She had visited London in 1829 and 1833 and on the earlier visit had been painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence for George IV. She married in 1836, as her second husband, Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who was made King Consort in 1837 and whose portrait is also in the Royal Collection (RCIN 406254).

Corden had been sent to Lisbon in 1850 and painted a pair of full length portraits of the King and Queen but these do not appear to have survived. This head and shoulders portrait may have been cut out of the original full length painting, or may be a copy of the head from the original.