George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and Lord Francis Villiers

In August 1628 the 1st Duke of Buckingham, favourite of two English kings, was stabbed to death in a Portsmouth inn by a discharged officer named John Felton. He left a son of seven months, George, and a second son, Francis, born the year after. Charles I took both boys into his own household and raised them with the royal children.

Van Dyck painted them in 1635, when they were seven and six, and the date is inscribed near the top of the canvas. The picture was made for the king and hung in the gallery at St James's Palace, close to van Dyck's portrait of the boys' sister Mary.

Both brothers later fought for Charles. Francis was killed at 19 in a skirmish near Kingston upon Thames in July 1648.