One of a set of three portraits of the children of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary (RCINs 400817, 400785, 400919) commissioned in 1899. It appears that the paintings of the two princes were completed first: Queen Mary's diary entry for Saturday 28 October 1899 notes…'Fine. At 3. I went to see Mr Hughes's pictures of the 2 boys'.

By the 1890s Edward Hughes was a successful portrait painter of fashionable society and in 1895 he was commissioned to paint the Duchess of York (RCIN 405365). His daughter, Alice Hughes, a highly respected photographer, who lived with him and took care of his business affairs, also documented the Duke and Duchess of York and their family. A photograph, dated 1898, depicts the Duchess with her three children; the Princes similarly dressed in sailor suits (RCIN 2373517). Alice recorded in her biography of her father that she found the children easier to amuse and far less bored and sophisticated than other sitters (My Father and I, 1923 p 160).

Princess Mary, the only daughter of George V and Queen Mary, was born and brought up at Sandringham House. Educated by governesses, she became fluent in French and German. She greatly enjoyed the outdoor life, acquiring an enduring love of horses and skill in riding. She was later to be painted on horseback by Sir Alfred Munnings. In 1922 she married Viscount Lascelles, later sixth Earl of Harewood.

The portraits are recorded at Marlborough House in a photograph of 1905 (RCIN 2302231).