“On the whole, there was a lot of sadness in the lives of at least five of my sovereign ladies,” says Sovereign Ladies: Sex, Sacrifice and Power author Maureen Waller. “There was a very affecting moment when I came across a lock of Mary II's hair secreted in her father's diary, in the Royal Archives at Windsor.”

     “It was three hundred years old, yet because it had been kept away from the light, it was shining with life,” says Waller. “I felt the same shiver as when I once looked into the mirror of Mary, Queen of Scots at Holyrood Palace.”

     Sovereign Ladies is the story of England's six female monarchs: Anne, Elizabeth I, Elizabeth II, Mary I, Mary II and Victoria. There are separate chapters for each sovereign.

     “I read a phenomenal amount, particularly letters and diaries,” says Waller. “Queen Victoria alone, who kept a diary throughout her life, wrote about two million words. Unfortunately, after her death her daughter Princess Beatrice cut out or burnt a lot of the juicy bits. Victoria was very highly sexed and frank in her opinions!”

     Maureen Waller has four books published and next year The English Marriage comes out.

     “I am now working on The English Marriage: Tales of Love, Money and Adultery,” says Waller. “It's a social history tracing the evolution of the English marriage, with a cast of hundreds, from the loyal and devoted Margaret Paston in the fifteenth century to Heather Mills McCartney and the modern phenomenon of the 'toxic wife' in the twenty-first century.”

     “Of course, there are also lots of erring, adulterous and cruel husbands along the way as well,” says Waller. “Altogether, it’s a frank, salacious and often shocking portrait of a people.

     Waller was born in Manchester. Although she has a flat in London, her main home is an eighteenth-century farmhouse in North Norfolk. “Funnily enough, I have discovered that my father's great-great-great grandfather lived only five miles away, so perhaps the fact that my roots are here accounts for my love of the place,” says Waller.

     At times Sovereign Ladies is repetitive as you reread items you read about in other chapter. The chapters about Mary II and Anne have the most new information. There has not been a lot written about these two monarchs.

     Sovereign Ladies is a interesting read. Even if you’re well versed with a number of the queens in this book, you will learn something new about each one. If you love the British monarchy you will want to read this book.