A full-length portrait facing slightly to the left in three-quarter armour. He wears a ducal robe with the collar of the Garter and a brown full-bottomed wig. His right hand, which holds a baton, rests on an anchor fluke. In the left background is a crown, and on the right a close helmet, soldiers on a beach and a ship offshore flying the Admiralty flag.

The sitter was the consort of Queen Anne, whom he married in 1683, following a gallant early career in Denmark as a soldier. In 1702, on the Queen's accession, he became Lord High Admiral, a post he held until his death. Charles II is reported to have said that he had 'tried him, drunk and sober, but "God's fish" there was nothing in him'. He was, however, dutifully diligent in the very limited sphere he was allowed even as Lord High Admiral. The portrait is signed by the artist and was presented to the Naval Gallery of Greenwich Hospital by Edward Hawke Locker in 1828. Locker, Secretary to the Hospital from 1819 and its senior resident Commissioner from 1829, was instrumental in founding of the Naval Gallery in 1823-24 and its guiding hand until his retirement in 1844. Prince George had been the Chairman of the Hospital's founding Grand Committee under William III, and continued this largely honorific involvement after his wife Queen Anne's accession. Where Locker obtained the painting is not clear, but it was one of three he presented to the Hospital, as well as being instrumental in group commisionning of a fourth; respectively BHC2758 (his ancestor, Commodore Brown, artist unidentified), BHC0355 (The Capture of Portobello, by Chambers) and BHC0617 (The Bombardment of Algiers, by Chambers).