A watercolour showing the south front of Richmond Lodge with the Prince of Wales and Duke of York playing with a hobby horse in the foreground; a lady is with them, and a sentry with box is to the left. Inscribed on the verso in pencil /38, perhaps the remains of a lot number.

Richmond Lodge was George III's first country residence. The earliest building on the site - around 200 yards (180 metres) to the east of the Observatory - was the home of the Keeper of the Old Deer Park at Richmond. In 1704 it was rebuilt by the Duke of Ormonde, who held the crown lease. Ormonde was involved in a plot to prevent the accession of George I and following his disgrace in 1715 Richmond Lodge became a residence of the Prince of Wales. On the accession of George II in 1727 the Lodge was granted to Queen Caroline, who made significant changes in the surrounding landscape, with the help of William Kent and Charles Bridgeman. In 1760 Richmond Lodge and its pleasure grounds became the property of George III. Although in 1761 a guidebook stated that the Lodge was 'unsuitable to the dignity of a King of England', part of the royal couple's honeymoon was spent there and for seven years from 1764 Richmond was the royal family's chief country retreat, where they would stay from June to late October. Small adjustments were made to the house for its new occupants. Among the furniture transferred to Richmond in the 1760s for the Queen's use were the pair of cabinets and stands and the Vile secretaire cabinet; these were both refurbished by Bradburn for their new setting.

In the 1760s and early 1770s there were recurring proposals - all of which were ultimately abortive - to replace Richmond Lodge with an entirely new building, Richmond Palace. Some of the pressure on space was eased when the two eldest Princes moved to the Dutch House in May 1771, where their education was to continue in the charge of governors. After the death of the King's mother early in the following year, the Queen announced to her brother Charles, 'We are going to move this summer to Kew, it will be better and more private'. In late April they visited Richmond Lodge for the last time. The house was demolished following the drawing up of an estimate in July 1772 of the expenses involved. The date of this watercolour of the south front may be guessed from the age of the boys - the Prince of Wales and Prince Frederick - who appear to be a year or two younger than in the Sandby view of the Dutch House, Kew. A drawing of the figures is in the V&A Museum (D.154-1901).

Catalogue entry adapted from George III & Queen Charlotte: Patronage, Collecting and Court Taste, London, 2004