Book Review: Sex With the Queen

Sex With the Queen details five hundred years of adultery and affairs of European Queens. From Catherine the Great to Sophia Dorothea of Celle, Eleanor Herman tells all.

Following up her bestseller, Sex With Kings, Eleanor Herman tackles the age old double standard of women who take lovers. Unlike many historical writers, Herman’s writing style is informative and interesting. It lacks the wordy jargon that is the trademark of so many academic writers in the field.

Essentially the book covers five hundred years of European queens, from Eleanor of Aquitaine (the author’s namesake) to Princess Diana. Herman’s meticulous research reveals many intimate details of royal life, love and loss. It was surprising to discover how common a practice it was for a queen to take a royal lover, and how public many affairs were. Herman recounts in delicious detail the most infamous queenly dalliances, including those of Catherine the Great, Marie Antoinette, and the Empress Alexandra of Russia. Herman also includes profiles of lesser-known women, such as Maria Francisca, wife to the mentally retarded King Alfonso VI of Portugal, and Maria Louisa of Parma, the Queen of Spain.

One of the best tales in Sex With the Queen is about a seemingly insignificant German princess. Sophia Dorothea of Celle (a small German town in lower Saxony) was married off to the very unlikable Prince George Louis of Hanover in 1682. Mutual dislike at the onset of their marriage led to each conducting extramarital affairs. Sophia Dorothea fell madly in love with the dashing Count Philip von Konigsmark. Better than any tragic romance, the affair between Sophia Dorothea and Konigsmark would bring great happiness, as well as debilitating sadness, and of course, scandal. After Konigsmark’s suspicious death, George Louis had his wife locked away at a run down estate in Celle, where she lived peaceably for twenty years doing charity work, until her own death in 1726. Today, the story of Sophia Dorothea is so popular (I have not really done it justice in this brief account) visitors flock to her grave, located in the crypt of St. Mary’s Church in Celle, where they adorn her simple coffin with fresh flowers.

As for her wretched husband, who exiled his own wife, and kept their children from having a mother? He went on to inherit the British Throne, known in history as King George I. But for an unkind twist of fate, Sophia Dorothea would have been Queen of England.

More than just a list of tawdry details, Sex With the Queen examines the reasons behind royal affairs, and their historical consequence. For most women, a royal marriage did not result in a fairy tale ending. Too often the prospective bridegroom was mentally challenged, impotent, a brutal tyrant, or simply preoccupied with his mistress. Being a queen could be a lonely and isolating position for any woman. It is not surprising then, that so many royal women kept a lover or two, on the side.

A mixture of romance, scandal, intrigue and adventure, Sex With the Queen will keep readers entertained and fascinated until the very last page.