This miniature has characteristics of the work of Richard Cosway but is less finely painted and thought to be a copy by an unidentified artist. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (1767–1820), was the fourth son of George III (1738–1820) and Queen Charlotte (1744–1818). He spent his career in the army and was the father of Queen Victoria. In 1785 Edward was sent to Lüneburg in his father's Electorate of Hanover, where he joined the Hanoverian foot guards, whose uniform he is wearing in this miniature with the star of the Order of the Garter. The white lapels on the jacket became regulation uniform in 1787. He was made a Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1786. From 1788 to 1790, he was based in Geneva but he returned home without leave in January 1790 and this miniature may have been painted at this time. His furious father had him transferred to the Royal Fusiliers (7th Regiment of Foot Guards) and sent him to Gibraltar, where he served as an ordinary officer. He was moved to Canada in 1791, was the first member of the royal family to reside in North America for a prolonged period and the first Prince to visit the United States since independence, travelling through Boston and New York. Prince Edward Island was named after him. After a fall from his horse he was allowed to return to England in 1798. In 1818 he married Victoria Mary Louisa of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1786–1861) and their daughter Victoria, the future Queen, was born the following year. He died of pneumonia in 1820 and was buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor, on 11 February. Richard Cosway (1742-1821) was appointed official miniature painter to George, Prince of Wales, Edward’s older brother, in 1786 and general advisor for the decoration of Carlton House, the Prince’s residence in London.