Strongly influenced by Electress Sophia of Hanover, Queen Caroline, wife of George II, was qualified by some of her contemporaries as ‘one of the most learned princesses in Europe’. A pioneer of the early Enlightenment, she corresponded with Leibniz and Voltaire and developed a keen interest in culture, the natural sciences, theology and philosophy. Highmore’s portrait shows her at the age of 52, two years before her sudden death. Probably acquired by George IV for Carlton House, where it was first recorded in 1816 Cat. 239