This portrait must date from c. 1800 when the sitter was 23. It is executed in a formula devised by Reynolds and Romney in the 1770s to express a young lady’s simplicity and sensibility. The white dress, veil and strings of pearls are simple and unaffected; the tender posture, dreamy smile, flushed cheeks and natural setting convey the sitter’s fine feelings. The sitter was George III’s niece, whose brother, William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester (1776-1834), married George III’s daughter, Mary, which may be the reason why this and other Gloucester portraits (see RCIN 400976 and 400205) came into the Royal Collection.