A watercolour showing the departure of the Emperor and Empress from Balmoral by carriage on the evening of 3 October, accompanied by Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and his wife, Louise. Highlanders are lined up outside the West Lodge, holding flaming torches. Signed, lower right.

Queen Victoria recorded in her diary that, ‘At 10 dear Nicky & Alicky left to my regret, as I am fond of them both […] Went to the door to see our dear visitors leave. There were again the Highlanders bearing torches, but no pipes’. The last Emperor of Russia, Nicholas II, and his wife, Alexandra, visited Queen Victoria at Balmoral Castle, her Scottish home, in 1896. They arrived by imperial yacht at Leith on 22 September, and then travelled to Balmoral, where they stayed until 3 October. The Empress Alexandra was the queen's granddaughter (Alexandra was the daughter of Victoria and Albert's third child Princess Alice and her husband Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse). The young Russian Imperial couple brought their 10-month-old daughter, Olga, with them to meet her great-grandmother. The visit was principally a family reunion, with many of Queen Victoria’s children and grandchildren travelling to Balmoral to greet the couple. The stay was also punctuated with discussions about international relations relating to Russia and Britain. Queen Victoria spoke to Nicholas regarding the Eastern Question, and the prime minister and Foreign Secretary, Lord Salisbury, gained assurances about Russia’s intentions towards India.

Text adapted from Russia, Royalty & the Romanovs, London, 2018