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 Scone Palace with the 4th Earl of Mansfield on 6th September on their way from Dalkeith to Taymouth. Victoria described Scone in a letter to her uncle Leopold, King of the Belgains, as "fine, but rather gloomy". (Royal Archives, Y90/56/8 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'. At the sale of Leitch's studio contents in March 1884, a study for this watercolour, apparently drawn from nature (RCIN 919705), was purchased for the Queen.