[1] It depicts the scene on 18 June 1817 when the newly constructed Waterloo Bridge across the River Thames in London was ceremonially opened by the Prince Regent.

[2] To distinguish it from other works of the scene by Constable and others, it is known by the longer alternative title Embarkation of George IV from Whitehall: The Opening of Waterloo Bridge, 1817.

The scene shows several barges leaving for the bridge, led by that of the Prince Regent (by the time the painting was exhibited he had reigned for a decade as George IV before his death in 1830).

It is more distant from the earlier Constable paintings which were set closer to bridge and provides a wider panorama of the scene on the Thames.

Reflecting the time lapse between the scene depicted and its eventual completion, Constable adds a number of industrial buildings on the South Bank which were not present in 1817.