Miss Mary Adams was the daughter of Charles Francis Adams, the United States minister to the court of St. James.

The sitting that follows this one in the Silvy daybooks is a portrait of a Miss Chapman, wearing similar grand tenue. On 2 March 1863, the court circular in Times carried a lengthy report of a Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace held by the Princess Royal on behalf of the Queen. Mrs Adams, wife of the United States minister, presented her daughter, Miss Adams, and Miss Anne Chapman, of Boston, Massachusetts.

No date was entered in the Silvy daybooks for the sittings that took place between 24 Febuary 1863 and 5 March 1863, so the exact date of the 80 sittings that took place on those days is unknown. However, since this portrait fits so neatly with an event that took place on a known date, it seems likely that the sitters visited Silvy's studio on Saturday 28 February, on their way to the Palace.

This is one of the cartes-de-visite in an album that belonged to Elizabeth Van de Weyer, wife of Jean Sylvain Van de Weyer, Belgian ambassador to the Court of St. James. The family lived at New Lodge in Berkshire.