Princess Charlotte (1796-1817) was the only child of George, Prince of Wales, later George IV (1762-1830) and Princess Caroline of Brunswick (1768-1821). After her parents separated, she joined the Prince of Wales’ household at Carlton House and then was taken to live at the Lower Lodge, Windsor Castle, from 1805 onwards. Her relationship with her father was distant, particularly when she broke off her engagement to William, the Hereditary Prince of Orange, in 1814. In May 1816, she married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, later king of the Belgians, but died soon after the birth of a stillborn son in 1817. She had become a very popular figure and was deeply mourned both by her husband and the general public.

This miniature was probably painted shortly after the princess became engaged to the Hereditary Prince of Orange in December 1813, and it shows her wearing her engagement ring. The portrait was listed in the artist’s account for her ‘Gallery of Beauties’ painted for the Prince Regent in 1813, and there are records of it being fitted with a red leather case on 12 April 1814 and new glass in 1815. The engagement was broken off in June 1814, but the portrait remained in Princess Charlotte’s possession until her engagement to Prince Leopold in February 1816, when it was returned to Carlton House.

Anne Mee (1780/5-1851) was the daughter of the artist John Foldsone. She was educated in London and was a protégée and pupil of the portrait painter George Romney. Lady Courtown introduced her to Queen Charlotte, and Charlotte Papendiek, journalist and assistant keeper of the wardrobe to Queen Charlotte, described Anne Mee drawing the queen and princesses at Windsor in 1790. Mee visited frequently after that date and obtained the patronage of George IV, when Prince of Wales, who commissioned the ‘Gallery of Beauties of George III’ – fashionable ladies of whom one list is in the royal archives and another printed in the Ladies Monthly Museum XVI (January 1814).