A bust-length copy by Essex after William Ross's half-length rectangular miniature (420382; Royal Collection) painted when Prince Ernest accompanied his brother to England early in 1840 for Prince Albert's marriage to Queen Victoria. The Hereditary Prince is shown wearing wearing German general officer's uniform with the collar of the Saxe-Coburg House Order, the neck badge of the Order of Malta and the collar, star and badge of the Order of Saxe-Ernest.

Ernest, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, later Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was the elder son of Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and Louise, daughter of Emilius Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Gotha. He married, in 1842, Alexandrine, eldest daughter of Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden, but they had no children, leading to the reversion of the title to Prince Alfred, second son of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, on Ernest II's death in 1893.

Signed, dated and inscribed on the counter-enamel in black paint: H.S.H. / Prince Ernest / &c. &c. &c. / Painted after a mine. by W.C. Ross Esqr. A.R.A. / by W. Essex 1840. Enamel / Painter to Her Majesty.