Allegorical Portrait of Princess Augusta as a baby, with Britannia

Princess Augusta, the eldest daughter of Frederick, Prince of Wales, was born amidst the stormy relations between her father and his parents, George II and Queen Caroline. On 31 July 1737, Frederick's heavily pregnant wife Augusta went into labour after dinner at Hampton Court. Frederick had sworn that he would not let any child of his be born under the same roof as his parents, so he had Augusta carried away down his private staircase within his apartments, on to a coach, and all the way to St James's Palace to deliver the baby. This only served to cause a further rift with the King.

Frederick was also keen to establish his 'British' identity, as heir to the throne, in contrast to the Hanoverian origins of his family, and this portrait by the English artist Charles Philips, places Augusta in the care of the allegorical figure of Britannia. The detail of Augusta's cradle is comparable with descriptions of her christening, when she was "laid in her nurse's lap upon a rich cushion embroidered with silver tassels and fringes with the most exquisite fine laced linen."