Karl Jacob Theodor Leybold (1786-1844), the son of Johann Friedrich, studied at the Academy in Vienna. He was in Rome from 1807 to 1815, and then returned to Vienna, where he was recognized as a fine portrait painter. In 1821 he established himself in Stuttgart. He was appointed a professor at the Academy there in 1829, and became an inspector of the Neue Staatsgalerie in 1842.

Prince Ernest (1794-1860) was Major-General in the armies of Hanover and Württemberg. The son of Charles, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, and Countess Amelie of Solms-Baruth, he had married Queen Victoria’s half-sister, Feodora, in 1828. Together they had six children. The Queen described him as of unblemished character, upright, straightforward and devoted to his wife. After he died in 1860, Feodora wrote to Queen Victoria ‘I will have Winterhalter’s picture copied and lithographed it is the best’. Franz Xaver Winterhalter’s potrait, and a copy after it by William Corden the Younger, are both in the Royal Collection; RCIN 405107, 402486.

In Leybold's portrait the Prince appears in uniform, almost half-length, facing three-quarters right, his head turned slightly to the right. He wears the stars of the Bath and the Guelphic Order; and the star of the Family Order of Saxe-Ernest.

This painting forms a pair with Leybold's portrait of the sitter's wife, Princess Feodora (RCIN 407158).