On 15 November 1837 Queen Victoria went to see the 'lively and pretty' opera 'The Siege of La Rochelle' and a 'somewhat vulgar farce' entitled 'Simpson & Co' at the Drury Lane Theatre. She sat alone in her box, 'which was quite on the stage', with her attendants behind her: 'I was splendidly received, with the greatest enthusiasm and deafening cheering' (Queen Victoria's 'Journal').

This is one of two versions in the Royal Collection (RCIN 405577 and 409012) that Edmund Parris painted after his original portrait of the Queen. Stated to be the first portrait of Queen Victoria made after her coronation, it was a popular image at the time and was engraved for widespread publication in April 1838.

Parris was trained as an enamellist and was appointed Historical Painter to Queen Adelaide from 1822. In 1821 he invented an apparatus that enabled him to reach Thornhill's paintings in the cupola of St Paul's Cathedral in order to restore them, and from 1853 he spent three years repairing and largely repainting them.