Princess Augusta Sophia (1768-1840) was the sixth child and second daughter of George III and Queen Charlotte. The enamel anchor pendant on her necklace also appears in an earlier half-length portrait of Augusta by Beechey in the Royal Collection and in a number of drawings of her by Henry Edridge, also in the Royal Collection. It has been suggested that the anchor pendant might relate to the Princess's devotion to her brother William, Duke of Clarence (later William IV), or to her love of the sea. It is known that the Princess, who remained unmarried, was particularly fond of visiting the bathing resort of Weymouth in Dorset and one of the Edridge drawings represents her standing at Weymouth Bay. It is possible that Weymouth is the setting for this portrait, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1802 with a full length of Augusta's brother Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, of the same size. These pictures may have been conceived as a pair; they were hanging together in the King's Dining-Room at Kew three years later. George III and Queen Charlotte's admiration for Beechey's work led to numerous commissions for royal portraits and to his appointment as Portrait Painter to the Queen in 1793, the year in which he was elected an associate member of the Royal Academy. Although he seems to have fallen out of favour with the King and Queen by 1804, he continued to paint other members of the royal family until the end of his career. Beechey's early training was with Johan Zoffany but the loose handling and dexterous brushwork of his later paintings is closer to the work of his rival Sir Thomas Lawrence. Of the previous generation of British artists, Thomas Gainsborough's painterly style, seen in his earlier portraits of Augusta - particularly the full length (cut down) with her two closest sisters - appears to have been an obvious influence upon Beechey. The recent cleaning of this unlined painting has revealed the loose, rapid technique and use of rich colouring. Catalogue entry from Royal Treasures, A Golden Jubilee Celebration, London 2002