The success of a Hollywood film could provide a tourism boost for a popular Perthshire attraction.
Scone Palace hopes the growing popularity of Belle, which depicts the life of a mixed-race girl born into the aristocracy in the 18th Century, will mean a surge in visitor numbers.
There is renewed interest in the 2013 film, and the award-winning palace, after it became available on video streaming site Netflix.
The only portrait representation of Dido Belle known to exist, and which is a central storyline to the film, was painted in 1779 by German painter Johann Zoffany and depicts Dido Elizabeth Belle and her cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray.
Today it hangs in the Ambassador’s Room at Scone Palace.
Last year, in recognition of the film’s link with Scone Palace, a new exhibition was developed to tell the story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the daughter of a slave and a British admiral who spent part of her early life at the Perthshire Palace, and played a little-known role in the abolition of international slavery.
Born in 1761 to Sir John Lindsay, nephew of the 1st Earl of Mansfield and the African slave Maria Belle, Dido Elizabeth Belle was brought up under the care and protection of the 1st Earl of Mansfield, who was the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales and whose family home was at Scone Palace.
Margo Baird, head of marketing at Scone Palace, said: “We’ve had tremendous interest in Belle and her exhibition, Dido Belle: Her Story. It has been incredibly popular with visitors from around the world and, in particular, from the USA.
“It is now the third most searched for term that brings visitors to our website and the traffic continues to build since Netflix released it on their streaming service.
“Although it was always intended to be a temporary exhibition, we will continue to display it this year in response to popular demand and in recognition that the film is due to be released in Japan later this year.”
Belle stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw in the title role, alongside Tom Wilkinson and Miranda Richardson.