Queen Victoria and Prince Albert made their first visit to Scotland in September 1842. The royal tour, which lasted two weeks, was largely organised by the 5th Duke of Buccleuch, Lord Lieutenant of the County of Midlothian and Gold Stick of Scotland, and his wife Charlotte, who was Queen Victoria's Mistress of the Robes, in conjunction with the Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel. The Queen and Prince stayed at Drummond Castle with Lord and Lady Willoughby 10-13th September. Victoria described the gardens of the castle in her journal entry of 11 September as "really very fine, with terraces, & quite like a French garden". She described the Castle in a letter to her half-sister Feodore as "a mere cottage...but neat" (Royal Archives, ADDU/171/151/11 September 1842).

This watercolour is one of a series commissioned by the 5th Duke of Buccleuch to present to Victoria and Albert as a souvenir of their visit. The artist, William Leighton Leitch, taught the Duchess of Buccleuch watercolour painting, and from 1846 would be Queen Victoria’s own tutor for almost twenty years. However, the watercolours of the 1842 Scottish tour, which were painted in 1844, were not presented to Victoria at the time; she did not receive them until 1888, when the Duke's daughter-in-law Louisa sent them to her in a leather portfolio entitled 'Sketches in Scotland by William Leitch 1842'.