Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited Guernsey on 14 August 1859 with four of their children, and took a carriage ride around the island. This watercolour, painted a year later, was one of the three views of Jersey and Guernsey by Leitch painted "according to the Queen's requests" (as stated in the record of payment), meaning that Victoria probably stipulated the subjects. See also RCINs 920247 and 920248.   

Richard Principal Leitch was the son of the royal watercolour tutor William Leighton Leitch, who taught Queen Victoria, her daughters and her daughter-in-law Princess (later Queen) Alexandra for almost twenty years.  

This watercolour was originally mounted in View Album VIII. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert compiled nine View Albums during their marriage. These albums contained watercolours and drawings documenting their life together and were arranged in chronological order. The albums were dismantled in the early twentieth century and rebound in new volumes both in a different arrangement and with additional items, but a written record of their original contents and arrangement still exists.