Duke Frederick is wearing the uniform of Colonel of the Coldstream Guards and the star of the Order of the Garter. The miniature was painted from life at the beginning of 1793. The Duke left England for Flanders on 25 February 1793 and returned on 7 February 1794. The miniature is sealed into a narrow gold rim on the lid of a circular tortoiseshell box.

Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, army officer and Bishop of Osnabrück (1763-1827), was the second son of George III and Queen Charlotte. In 1791, a marriage was arranged for him with Frederica Charlotte Ulrica Catherina (1767–1820), eldest daughter of Frederick William II, King of Prussia, and his first wife, Elizabeth of Brunswick. In 1798, he was made Commander-in-Chief of the army and helped to introduce a system whereby more men were promoted on merit, rather than through purchase or nepotism. In order to improve the officers' training, he founded the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and a military school at High Wycombe which was the forerunner of Sandhurst. Among his innovations were improvements to the style and provision of the clothing of soldiers on active duty. He was popular and jovial – William Thackeray described him as 'big, burly, loud, jolly, courageous, cursing'.

John Bogle (c. 1746-1803) was a successful Scottish miniaturist, exhibiting in London and Edinburgh. Sir Joshua Reynolds noted his 'minute stippling' technique, 'especially in the hair, producing a curiously woolly effect' according to another contemporary. He studied at the drawing school in Glasgow and married Marion Wilson in 1769.

Signed and dated lower right: I.Bogle / pt /179 (the last numeral is indistinct).