Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales

Object Type
After the childless Elizabeth I (ruled 1558-1603), James I (ruled 1603-1625) offered the nation a hopeful dynastic future. He had a young family: Prince Henry (1594-1612), who was his heir, Prince Charles (1600-1649) and Princess Elizabeth (1596-1662). James embraced portraiture as a way to promote the new Stuart dynasty. During this reign, there was a massive proliferation of miniature portraits of members of the Royal Family.

People
Prince Henry was nine years of age in 1603, when his father inherited the English throne. In 1610, aged 16, this dynamic young man was invested as Prince of Wales. He had his own revenues, household and palaces The Prince died, however, on 6 November 1612, at the young age of 18. In this portrait Henry wears the blue ribbon of the Order of the Garter. An English order of knighthood, the Garter traditionally comprises the Sovereign and 25 Knights Companions.

Henry established his own household when he became Prince of Wales in 1610. Nicholas Hilliard (possibly born in 1547, died 1619) had painted him when he was a boy, but he now employed Isaac Oliver (born about 1558, died 1617). Oliver presented him as a dynamic young man, not as a boy . This miniature is a version of a miniature painted in 1612, just before Henry died. However, it is difficult to date miniatures of Henry since many must have been manufactured as mementos after his death.