A pencil sketch on grey paper of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert riding in a carriage through the arch at Dunkeld House, with figures lining the route either side and two small sketches of architectural details at the top. Annotated in pencil with colour and other notes and, along the bottom: “Queen & Prince Albert leaving the Duchess of Athols, crowd of persons on each side / Queen Albert both standing, common travelling carriage & postilions with caps on”. Also annotated at top left: “P<…> Large”. Mounted on a page originally from an album, numbered in pencil at top right “140”, along with RCIN 935242.

This sketch was made by Landells to be reproduced in the Illustrated London News, commonly described as the world’s first illustrated newspaper. Landells, a well-known wood-engraver and illustrator, worked for the publication from its inception, providing drawings of a number of royal tours - including the first of Scotland in 1842, when this drawing was made - and events that were then reproduced as printed illustrations accompanying news articles. The Illustrated London News reported extensively on the lives and activities of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and the royal family.

Victoria and Albert visited Scotland for the first time in September 1842. Their journey up the east coast of England to Edinburgh was delayed by bad weather, and they arrived there, early in the morning, a day later than intended. This meant that the plans put into place for a welcoming ceremony fell into disarray. However, Albert described the visit as a “delightful, exciting tour” and it inculcated a love for the country in the royal couple that culminated in the building of their own private residence, Balmoral Castle, in the Highlands.

This drawing is a preparatory sketch used for the illustration titled “The Queen leaving The Duchess of Atholl’s.” on page 297 of the Illustrated London News, no. 19 for the week ending Saturday September 17 1842. The newspaper reported that “the royal cortège was accompanied by a guard of Lord Glenlyon’s Highlanders, sixty in number, each carrying a Lochabar axe, and preceded by eight Highland pipers. Her Majesty appeared highly delighted with the animating scene, and smiled and bowed in return to the cheers of the assembled multitude as she passed.” The royal couple stopped at Dunkeld, the home of Lord Glenlyon, on their journey from Perth to Taymouth Castle on 7 September. The reference to the Duchess of Atholl presumably meant the eighty-one-year-old Dowager Duchess, the Honorable Margery Forbes, wife of the 4th Duke of Atholl and the step great-aunt of Lord Glenlyon. Her son, the 5th Duke, did not marry. The Dowager Duchess died just a month after the royal visit.