Winterhalter was born in the Black Forest where he was encouraged to draw at school. In 1818 he went to Freiburg to study under Karl Ludwig Schüler and then moved to Munich in 1823, where he attended the Academy and studied under Josef Stieler, a fashionable portrait painter. Winterhalter was first brought to the attention of Queen Victoria by the Queen of the Belgians and subsequently painted numerous portraits at the English court from 1842 till his death.

Prince Albert Edward is wearing the uniform of a Lieutenant-Colonel of the Grenadier Guards with the ribbon and star of the Garter. The announcement of his appointment as Colonel was made on 9 November 1858. The following year the Queen described her eldest son thus: 'a little grown…his nose & mouth are much grown also; the nose is becoming a true Coburg nose & begins to hang a little, but there remains, unfortunately the want of a chin'.

Signed and dated: Fr Winterhalter / 1859. Inscribed on the back with the names of the artist and sitter and the date, June 1859.