A copy by Simpson after Robert Thorburn's half-length watercolour of the Duke dating from 1844 painted during his visit to Windsor Castle with the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha from 20 November to 17 December of that year (913872). An oil version by Thorburn after his own watercolour was painted for the 1844 Room at Buckingham Palace (406679). At the time of his visit, Queen Victoria wrote of the Duke: 'Ernest Wurtemberg (our 1st cousin) … I had not seen since 1833. He seems very well, & is much improved in looks with fine features & figure' (RA QVJ: 20 November 1844).

Duke Ernest of Württemberg, third son of Duke Alexander of Württemberg and Antoinette, second daughter of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, was first cousin to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He made a morganatic marriage in 1860 to Nathalie von Grünhof, an opera singer, by whom he had one daughter.

John Simpson (1811-after 1871) was trained as a porcelain painter at the Derby porcelain factory before moving to London in 1845. He soon established a practice as a miniature painter specialising in works on enamel, and fulfilled the first of many commissions for Queen Victoria in that year. He is last recorded describing himself at the end of his career as a 'photographic artist' (1871 census return); the date of his death is not known.

Signed, dated and inscribed on the counter-enamel in pink paint: Duke Ernest / of Wurtemburg [sic] / After Thorburn / 1844 / by J. Simpson