Frederick Lewis was born in Hanover, the first child of George Augustus, electoral prince of Hanover, later George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland (1683–1760). When his grandfather was proclaimed king in 1714 most of the family moved to England but Frederick, aged seven, was left behind in Hanover as a representative of the electoral family. By the time he was required to rejoin his family in England in 1728, he was already on bad terms with his father and in debt to the sum of over £100,000. In England, Frederick re-built the White House at Kew, developed an interest in art, and commissioned a barge, more stylish and faster than any of the king's barges and now in the National Maritime Museum. In 1736 he married Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha (1719–1772) with whom he had had seven children. The prince's relationship with his parents continued to deteriorate and developed into a national scandal. Frederick's demands for money and his father's refusal to give it to him resulted in Frederick appealing to parliament against the king. Frederick ran his own rival court and his political manoeuvring against Sir Robert Walpole, his father's chief minister, caused bitterness and division. Frederick pursued his interest in the arts and commissioned George Vertue to make lists of the royal art collections as well as making copies of the inventories of the collections of Charles I and their sale by the Commonwealth. He died in 1751 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, without any members of the royal family present.

This miniature seems to be based on a portrait of Frederick by Thomas Frye (1710-62), painted about 1741 for the Guild of Saddlers but destroyed in 1940. Frederick was 'Perpetual Master' of the Guild from 1737 until his death. There is a version of the painting in the Royal Collection (RCIN 402407). The prince wears the ribbon and star of the Garter. The miniature may have been painted by Frye himself who was a talented miniaturist as well as a portrait painter. In1744 he founded and managed the Bow porcelain factory in London.