The sitter was the great hope of the Protestant Succession: he was born a few months after the 'Glorious Revolution' to Queen Mary's younger sister, Anne (later Queen Anne), and her husband, George of Denmark. He thus represented the only direct heir to the Stuarts (he was the grandson of James II) who was male and Protestant. His premature death in 1700 precipitated the Act of Settlement of 1701 and the selection of Sophia, Electress of Hanover (granddaughter of James I), as the legitimate heir to the throne. Sophia's son George I duly succeeded upon the death of Queen Anne in 1714.

Edmund Lilly is nothing to do with Peter Lely (though the English sometimes confusingly called the Dutchman 'Lilly'); he came from Norfolk and is known through a few signed works, including this one of c. 1698 and one of Queen Anne, dated 1703.

The sitter is shown in the robes of the Order of the Garter (he was installed in July 1696) standing in a colonnade. It is rare to see painted architecture so carefully realised which appears to bear no relation to any existing building and indeed looks more French and English.

Signed: 'E Lilly. pinxit.'