Following the success of Marmion (1808), Walter Scott shifted his focus for his third historical poem from the Borders to the Scottish Highlands. On its publication in 1810 The Lady of the Lake was immensely popular, going through eight editions in its first year and selling over 20,000 copies.
Set in the Trossachs over the course of six days, The Lady of the Lake is a story based on James V of Scotland's historical attempts to pacify the Highland clans and popular legends of his incognito travels among his people. The plot centred on Ellen Douglas, the daughter of James Douglas, formerly Earl of Bothwell, an enemy of the King. Travelling incognito as James Fitz-James, Knight of Snowdoune, the exhausted James V encounters Ellen following a stag hunt where she takes him to her lakeside cottage to recuperate. James soon becomes enamoured with her and returns to the Highlands at the risk of his own life. Ellen, meanwhile, is also pursued by Rhoderick Dhu, chief of Clan Alpine and her true love, Malcolm Graeme. Following a series of dramatic set pieces, Ellen and Malcolm are united by James's clemency at Stirling Caslte and James Douglas forgiven.
The story, even though based in the past and featuring historical figures, bears little relation to the historical record, where James V was known for his vindictive treatement of Clan Douglas in his pacification of the Highlands. This mattered little to audiences who lapped up Scott's evokative descriptions of the Trossachs, use of magic and romance. The poem is the most overtly romantic of Scott’s poems and helped to inspire the nineteenth-century revival of interest in the Highlands and Highlander culture.
On her first visit to Scotland in 1842, Queen Victoria read The Lady of the Lake while staying at Drummond Castle. The poem was later referred to by Prince Albert when he and the Queen were developing Balmoral Castle in September 1851, she wrote in her Journal on a visit to Glas-allt-Shiel on the shore of Loch Muick:

“We rowed up to the head of the Lake & landed at the foot of the Glassalt, where a charming little lodge has been built for Duncan (now one of our Keepers), & there is a little room for us. It is nearly finished. A lovelier, milder, or more romantic spot cannot be imagined. Albert says it is quite a spot for the "Lady of the Lake" to dwell in.”