Frederica, Princess Royal of Prussia (1767-1820) was the only daughter of Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia (1744-97), later King Frederick William II, and his first wife Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1746-1840). Her parents divorced in 1769 and Frederica never saw her mother again. She was brought up by her paternal grandmother Princess Luise Amalie and her stepmother Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, who married the Crown Prince almost immediately after his divorce. In 1791, Frederica married Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, the second son of George III. She received an enthusiastic welcome in London, but the marriage was not a happy one and the couple soon separated. Frederica retired to Oatlands Park, Weybridge, where she lived until her death in 1820.

Horace Hone (1754-1825) was born in London and entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1770. He was appointed Miniature Painter to the Prince of Wales in 1795. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1772 to 1822 and became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1779. In 1782, Hone went to Ireland and ran a successful practice in Dublin, but work declined after the Union of England and Ireland and he returned to London in 1804.

Signed and dated on the right with the monogram HH 1792, and inscribed on the back with ink: Duchess of York / by H. Hone.