Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1697-1764) was the fourth son of John Ernest IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the third born by his father's second wife Charlotte Johanna of Waldeck-Wildungen. He was the great-great-grandfather to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. After the deaths of his two older brothers in 1720, he was the second in line in the succession of the duchy, preceded only by his older half-brother, Christian Ernest. In spite of his claim to the sole inheritance, after Christian Ernest married unequally in 1724, his father's will compelled him to rule jointly with his half-brother. After the latter's death in 1745, he ruled as sole Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. A portrait of his wife, Anne Sophia, who he married in 1723, is in the Royal Collection (RCIN 403530).

A later version of the work by AG Meuser, dated 1755, is in the Veste Coburg (M363). For a portrait of the sitter when younger see RCIN 406474. In this version the Duke appears in armour, with a crimson ermine-lined mantle around his shoulders and with the star and riband of the Polish Order of the White Eagle.