This is one of a group of four enamels representing the surviving daughters of Frederick V and Elizabeth, King and Queen of Bohemia. They appear to have been painted c.1650 by an unknown artist who presumably worked at Elizabeth's court-in-exile in The Hague. Sophia was the twelfth child and fifth daughter of Frederick and Elizabeth, and the granddaughter of James I. She was widely regarded as a pillar of Protestantism and was at one time thought to be a suitable match for her first cousin, Charles II (cat. 2). Shortly after the death of his father, Charles made a clumsy attempt to court her. In 1659, she married Ernest Augustus (1629–98), who became the first Elector of Hanover in 1692; in 1714 their son, George Ludwig, succeeded as George I, King of Great Britain and Ireland.

Text adapted from Charles II: Art and Power, London 2017.