Exhibiting Regalia of Scotland to Archduke Maximilian

Category

Library Item

Item no

638

Title

Exhibiting the ancient Regalia of Scotland to the Archduke Maximilian

Description

Many soldiers stand in a dark barrel vaulted room. A sentry stands outside with a rifle. The entrance is closed with a metal lattice-work gate. Another soldier with breeches stands on the inside with his hand on the gate. the room is lit by candlelight. In the centre of the room is a table with a red cloth, a red cushion and golden coloured emblems of state. A man with a moustache and blue jacket is holding a crown in his hands. One man wears a yellow cloak.

Artist / maker

Skene, James

Date

1818

Size

17 x 23 cm.

Type

Watercolour

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

James Skene, as a close friend of Sir Walter Scott, was familiar with the quest for the Scottish regalia. He provides a vivid account in his journal, Reekiana. Following the Act of Union in 1707, the Scottish regalia had been deposited with "due form and solemnity" somewhere in Edinburgh castle "but the place where they were understood to be kept had been forgotten"(1). Scott had explained the circumstances to the then Prince Regent (later George IV) who promptly established a Royal Commission to search the castle. On 5th February 1818, the commission proceeded to discharge this duty "with considerable misgiving as to the probable success of the undertaking", but in a moment of pure theatre, they happened upon the regalia in "a room in the old Tower which had not been opened in the memory of man". Skene contines: "Someone instantly shouted from the window 'The Regalia are found'...a shout arose little short of simultaneous, and was born to the distant quarters like the sound of rolling thunder"(2) . The water colour drawing is dated 1818 and refers to the visit of the Archduke Maximilian (1782-1863), a prominent member of the Austrian Royal family, who had distinguished himself during the Napoleonic Wars. On 12th November, in the company of the Lord Advocate, the Archduke visited Parliament House, where he is recorded as sitting to the right of the Lord President and Lord Justice Clerk in the First and Second Divisions (Scotland's highest appellate courts) and visiting the Advocates Library and the Signet Library. Later the "illustrious stranger" was taken to the Castle to view the newly discovered Scottish regalia "which he had expressed a wish of seeing"(3). As Skene is not listed amongst those present at the Archduke's visit to the castle, the watercolour drawing is probably conjectural. The regalia were formerly opened to the public on 26th May 1819.

(1) James Skene, Reekiana, 1836, Edinburgh 30
(2) Skene, Reekiana, 30
(3) Caledonian Mercury, 14th November 1818

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Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Gates

Homes > Residential buildings > Castles and palaces

People > Military activities > Soldiers

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

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