Sir Henry Holland (1788–1873) was a passionate and intrepid traveller from a young age. In addition to a distinguished career as court physician – first to Caroline of Brunswick, then to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert – he sought to keep two months of each year free to travel. His trip to Greece formed part of a European tour that Holland undertook in 1812–13 after having taken his medical degree at Edinburgh. Holland focuses on the lesser-known islands and parts of Macedonia and Albania, and gives a unique first-hand account of the Albanian vizier Ali Pasha (1740–1822), whom he befriended while visiting his court. The publication of Holland's travelogue in 1815 enhanced his reputation greatly and he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society that year. The book contributed to the early nineteenth-century fascination with Greece that would later lead Lord Byron to join the Greek War of Independence.