Lochnagar, the name given to both a loch and a mountain near Balmoral, became a favourite beauty spot for Victoria and Albert. Following their first successful expedition to the top of the mountain together, Victoria described it as ‘one of the wildest, grandest things imaginable … Albert thinks it very like the Crater of Mount Vesuvius.’ James Giles was an Aberdonian landscape painter who made many views of Balmoral and its surroundings for his royal patrons.