This fashionably dressed young sitter is Robert, Lord Bruce, the only child and heir of the Scottish nobleman Thomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin. As a boy Bruce received little formal education, but in his teens travelled to Europe becoming one of the first Scots to embark on the Grand Tour. By 1659 Bruce was an active royalist conspirator and was involved in plans for an uprising against the government, which led to his arrest. However following the Restoration his loyalty was recognised by Charles II and he was appointed to a number of prestigious posts at court and within parliament. Later he earned the confidence of James VII and II and bore the St Edward’s sceptre at his coronation in 1685.