The sitter was the eldest son of Francis Josias, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Anne Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; he succeeded his father as duke in 1764. He was the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Depicted wearing a richly embroidered red coat and waistcoat with a jabot and over his left shoulder, a blue ermine-lined mantle with the Star of the Order of the White Eagle; he wears a powdered wig and blue ribbon.

There are two copies of this portrait in the Royal Collection (RCINs 406414, 406416).