This miniature is a key component of the iconography of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, dating from the period of his final ill-fated campaign for the British throne that led to his defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. The artist, Sir Robert Strange (1721-92), who was born in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, and studied under the engraver Richard Cooper, was appointed Miniature Painter and Engraver to Prince Charles Edward. It is thought that he joined the rebel army to fight alongside the Prince at Culloden. Soon afterwards he gave up miniature painting and became a full-time engraver. George III knighted him in 1787 after he had made an engraving of The Apotheosis of the Royal Children painted by his friend Benjamin West. The King alluded to Strange's youthful Jacobite sympathies when he commented: 'unless Mr Strange you object to being knighted by the Elector of Hanover!'.

Prince Charles Edward is depicted here wearing a Scottish tartan coat and the ribbon and Star of the Order of the Garter.