Hamilton, who trained in the Dublin Schools under the tutelage of Robert West, was one of the leading exponents of the delicate medium of pastel. The relative speed with which a work could be completed, together with the more portable scale of the finished works increased the popularity of the medium. These attributes also allowed multiple versions of portraits of highly regarded sitters to be produced with ease. Hamilton's sensitive and careful use of the medium meant that he was greatly in demand after his move to London from Dublin in 1764. The present pastel is one of four portraits of Queen Charlotte by Hamilton and along with a version in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin is the earliest, dated 1769. A third version is dated 1770 and a version in the Royal Collection (A.P. Oppé, Drawings in the Royal Collection, 1950, no. 288) is dated 1771.

Queen Charlotte herself in a letter of 1770 to Lord Harcourt refers to the popularity of Hamilton and the delay in executing the commission to produce another version of her portrait. In it she refers to one of the versions dated 1769 `My Lord Harcourt, -You must by this time have formed a very bad opinion of my Promises, as well as of the performance of Hamilton the Painter. The blame cannot fall upon me, as my Orders were given even before your Departure; but I believe the great encouragement he has met with, has made him rather neglectful; however, this delay is fully repaired in the Drawings, as I think it is even better than the Original one you saw in the Summer last.' (Oppé, loc. cit.).

Queen Charlotte was twenty-five when the present work was painted and had been Queen for eight years. During her reign she was painted by all the leading artists of the age, including Alan Ramsay (1713-1784), Johann Zoffany (1733-1810), Benjamin West (1738-1820), Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), John Downman (1750-1824) and William Beechey (1753-1859). In her early portraits she is often depicted informally in a maternal pose, sometimes holding one of her children. In the present drawing Hamilton has painted her in the same black shawl and pearl choker, but without the elaborate bonnet in which she is seen in Zoffany's painting of the subsequent year (Royal Collection). However, after the King's first bout of insanity in 1788, portraits show her looking more care-worn and older, as can be seen in Lawrence's portrait of her, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1790.

King George III and Queen Charlotte were keen patrons of the Arts, and it was during their reign that the Royal Academy and the Royal Society of Arts were founded. The Queen was also a talented amateur botanist in an age which boasted the explorations of Captain Cook and Sir Joseph Banks.