diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 4e2cb48c14f62..302dd1693775f 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ Standard library changes
   * `copyto!(::AbstractMatrix, ::UniformScaling)` supports rectangular matrices now ([#28790]).
   * In `put!(c::Channel{T}, v)`, `v` now gets converted to `T` as `put!` is being called ([#29092]).
   * `current_project()` now also searched the parent directories of a Git repository for a `Project.toml` file. This also affects the behavior of the `--project` command line option when using the default `--project=@.` ([#29108]).
+  * Exponentiation operator `^` now supports raising a `Number` to an `AbstractMatrix` power ([#29782]).
 
 Compiler/Runtime improvements
 -----------------------------
diff --git a/base/promotion.jl b/base/promotion.jl
index 4eb80c1b68239..351cb2edf69a8 100644
--- a/base/promotion.jl
+++ b/base/promotion.jl
@@ -341,6 +341,9 @@ julia> A^3
  37   54
  81  118
 ```
+
+!!! compat "Julia 1.1"
+    Julia 1.1. added support for raising a number to a matrix power using `^`.
 """
 ^(x::Number, y::Number) = ^(promote(x,y)...)