A gilded manuscript describing Queen Victoria’s visit to the Scottish Highlands is set to go on display at the Queen’s Gallery in Edinburgh later this month.
First published in 1884, More Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands contains excerpts from The Queen’s diaries describing her life in the northeast from 1862 to 1882. The manuscript on display is, in fact, a Persian translation of the writings and presented to Her Majesty in 1885.
The book followed an earlier publication of Queen Victoria’s – Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands;Â published in 1868. Both books were immensely popular in the 19th century and offered an unprecedented glimpse into a Monarch’s life.
In her diaries, Queen Victoria wrote about her experience with tasting a haggis for the first time. She was served “several Scotch dishes, two soups and the celebrated haggis which I tried last night and really liked very much”.
The Queen also articulated her thoughts on surviving an accident. In 1863, she had been travelling back from Alltnaguibhsaich, when her carriage overturned and The Queen toppled out, falling on her face. “I had time to reflect on whether we should be killed or not, and thought there were still things I had not settled and wanted to do,” she wrote.
The entries also described the opening of the Aberdeen waterworks in 1866, and The Queen’s visit to the apartments of Mary, Queen of Scots in the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Additional entries include her visit to Dunkeld in Perthshire, where she stayed with the Dowager Duchess of Atholl in 1865.
However, the book begins only shortly after the death of Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert in 1861. Sorrowful entries by the heart-broken Queen are prevalent: “sad and suffering heart was soothed and cheered by the excursions and incidents it recounts”. After Albert’s death, Victoria spent nearly four months a year at Balmoral.
Major-General Sir Robert Murdoch Smith, a Kilmarnock native who was the director of Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art translated the work. The manuscript handwritten and covered in gold illumination and boasts highly-intricate gliding and calligraphy.
Lauren Porter, Curator of the Royal Collection Trust, said: “Given Queen Victoria’s enduring relationship with Scotland, it is fitting that the book should be displayed at the Queen’s Gallery, Edinburgh.” The manuscript will be on display at the Queen’s Gallery from 27 March to 26 July.
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