Princess Elizabeth was the second daughter of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Princess Augusta. No other comparable portrait is known of the Princess, and this was probably painted from life shortly before she died. She suffered ill health from childhood but Horace Walpole, art historian and writer, described her determination to join in with the activities of her siblings: 'I saw her act in 'Cato' at eight years old, (when she could not stand alone, but was forced to lean against the side-scene,) better than any of her brothers and sisters. She had been so unhealthy, that at that age she had not been taught to read, but had learned the part of Lucia by hearing the others study their parts. She went to her father and mother, and begged she might act. They put her off as gently as they could – she desired leave to repeat her part, and when she did, it was with so much sense, that there was no denying her'.

The portrait is initialled 'G' to the right above the sitter's shoulder. The artist, Andreas Henry Groth (active 1740-55) was born in Germany and appointed Painter in Enamels in Ordinary to George II in 1741-2. Walpole described him as: 'a German, painted in watercolours and enamel, but made no great proficience'. Groth's period of activity is usually believed to have ceased by 1755, but if the Princess is shown here aged approximately eighteen years old, the miniature must date from about 1758.

Inscribed in ink in eighteenth-century handwriting on a paper label: Pss Elizabeth Caroline died 19.