This portrait was painted when Charles I was still a child and before the death in 1612 of his older brother and heir to the throne, Prince Henry. He is dressed in vibrant red embroidered with real silver and wears shoes decorated with fantastic rosettes, a fashion item which Peake seems to have particularly enjoyed painting. Charles became a strong-minded king whose policies on taxation and religion made him very unpopular. Civil wars dominated the last ten years of his reign. Despite these troubles, Charles was a generous patron of the arts and famous painters like Rubens and Van Dyck worked for him.