The Scots journeys of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Five years after her accession to the throne in 1837, Queen Victoria expressed the desire to go and discover the north of her kingdom in the company of her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, and to meet her Scottish subjects left in the most complete isolation since the last visit of George IV in 1822. Touched by the hearty welcome of the Scots adn charmed by the beauty of the landscapes, the royal couple undertook two other journeys there in 1844 and 1847 before settling at Balmoral Castle (Aberdeenshire). The Queen's and the Prince's interest in Scotland transformed itself with the passing years into a deep and lasting attachment. The presence of the Royal Family at Balmoral every autumn, and the publication of the Queen's journal on Scotland in London in 1848, further strengthened the links between the sovereign and her Scottish people. Scotland had well and truly become Queen Victoria's adopted homeland.