This miniature was probably painted shortly after Princess Charlotte’s marriage to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg,-Saalfeld, as she is wearing her wedding ring. The artist, Simon-Jacques Rochard (1788-1872) came to London in 1816 and may have had a sitting with the princess, in which case, this would have been one of his first commissions. The miniature may, however, be based on a drawing by George Hayter, signed and dated 1816 and known from an engraving.  It also relates to a miniature by Hayter, copied by Henry Bone (Bone's pencil drawing is in the National Portrait Gallery, London).

Rochard was born in Paris and drew crayon portraits when he was a child in order to support his widowed mother and her 12 children. He was a pupil of Louis-François Aubry and entered the Académie des Beaux Arts in Paris in1813. In 1815, he moved to Brussels to avoid conscription. He settled in London, with introductions from the Duke of Richmond and Lady Caroline Lamb, and he built up a distinguished clientele. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and the New Water Colour Society between 1816 and 1845. He retired to Brussels and exhibited at the Brussels Salon from 1848 to 1869. At the age of 80, he married his second wife and they had a son.

A piece of paper preserved with the miniature is inscribed, probably by the artist: Portrait de la Princesse / Charlotte / peint par Rochard / 148 new Bond Str / London.