George III (1738-1820) was born on 4 June 1738, the eldest son of Frederick, prince of Wales, and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. He became heir to the throne on the death of his father in 1751, succeeding his grandfather, George II, in 1760. He was the third Hanoverian monarch and the first one to be born in England and to use English as his first language. In 1761, he married Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and the following year bought the Queen's House for her, later enlarged to become Buckingham Palace. They had 15 children.

George was greatly interested in all branches of art and science. He was the first king to study science as part of his education (he had his own astronomical observatory), and examples of his collection of scientific instruments can now be seen in the Science Museum.

In 1762, he bought the celebrated art collection of Joseph Smith, the British consul in Venice, and founded and paid the initial costs of the Royal Academy of Arts. He also started a new royal collection of books, 65,000 of which later became the nucleus of a national library. In addition, he took a keen interest in agriculture, particularly on the crown estates at Richmond and Windsor, and became known as 'Farmer George'.

Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702-1789) was born in Geneva, the son of the goldsmith, Antoine Liotard, and twin brother of the engraver, Michel Liotard. He studied in Geneva and Paris, and travelled extensively in Italy. In Florence, he met Sir William Ponsonby, later earl of Bessborough, and they travelled together to Constantinople (Istanbul) where he stayed for five years. After more European travels, to Vienna where he painted Empress Maria Theresa and the imperial family and court, then to Venice, Darmstadt, Lyons and Geneva, Liotard settled in Paris from 1748 to 1753 as painter to the king, Louis XV, and he became a member of the Academy of St Luke. He visited England twice, in 1753-5 and 1773-4. This miniature of Prince George wearing the ribbon of the Order of the Garter is closely related to Liotard's (1702-1789) pastel portrait, one of the 'Nine Portraits of the Royal Family' painted around 1754. An enamel copy by Henry Bone, painted for the prince regent in 1818, is also in the Royal Collection (RCIN 421346).