In his latest book, Middlesbrough-born writer Paul Doherty makes startling revelations about Queen Elizabeth I - including the claim that she had a lover and a secret son - and even more outrageous claims about Henry VIII and one of the wives he beheaded. He shares his thoughts with Women's Editor Sarah Foster.

THE maid sat quietly, ever watchful for a change, as like a fading rose, her mistress passed away. Her death was peaceful - "easy as a ripe apple falling from a tree" - the maid would later recall, but what of its cause? Was it merely old age? Could her rumoured madness be behind the queen's demise? Or, as the maid suspected, were there darker forces at play?

In an explosive new book, The Secret Life of Elizabeth I, the fictional maid leads us through a labyrinth of secrets - including how the monarch died. We learn her suspicions of ill intent, that among the queen's closest allies, there were also enemies; and read the shocking disclosure that she may have been poisoned. For the book's author, Paul Doherty, it's simply grist to the mill. "I'm fascinated by the undergrowth of history - things that might have happened," he says.

Now 59, and having penned a staggering 80 books, Paul is known the world over for his historical works. While some are purely fact, what he prefers is writing 'faction' - a blend of facts and imagination. In both genres, though, he aims to seek the truth. "For example, I did a thesis on Queen Isabella, who's supposed to have murdered her husband, Edward II, by thrusting a red hot poker up his backside" he says. "I came across manuscripts that said he may have escaped. His grave is in Gloucester Cathedral, but I think it contains another corpse."

Born in Middlesbrough in the 1950s, Paul was always keen on history. His other great love was the cinema - and best of all was the two combined. "I used to go and see films like Demetrius and the Gladiator and Spartacus," he says. "Now I see them and I just burst out laughing. It was pure escapism." He also liked storytelling, and would regale the milkman and the fruit merchant with his imaginings.

Yet when it came to a career, he didn't start out writing. "I went to university in Liverpool and I got a scholarship to Oxford to study my doctorate in medieval history," says Paul. "While I was there, I decided that I didn't want to be an academic but I wanted to teach. I didn't want to write learned articles but historical mysteries."

So he began as a teacher, moving around the country to different schools. He won promotion - from humble sir to head of history then to deputy head. His current job, as head of Trinity Catholic High School in Woodford Green, London, is one he's held for 25 years. Oh yes, and he also has seven children. So how on earth does he fit in writing? "I read a book once that said we spend a third of our time daydreaming and I suspect that my daydreaming is spent thinking of plots and characters and devising storylines," says Paul.

When it came to Elizabeth, there was certainly food for thought. The first thing he conveys is his great respect for her. "She was a brilliant woman and a brilliant ruler - probably one of the best we've had, certainly in Western Europe," he says. "There are a lot of legends about her."

While she was known as the Virgin Queen, Paul believes she had a lover and through exhaustive research, has come to other, yet more salacious conclusions. But, as he's keen to stress, he doesn't seek to stain her image. "I'm not saying she was immoral," he says. "I asked myself 'did this woman love anybody?' and there's no doubt that she was passionately in love with Robert Dudley."

Her friend since childhood, Dudley was a favourite at Elizabeth's court. Charming and urbane, he shared the queen's love of horses, serving as her Master of Horse. The sole bar to their union was a serious one - Dudley had a wife. When she died, supposedly by falling downstairs, there was great suspicion. "Elizabeth was trapped then," says Paul. "If she'd married him before, there would have been the question of divorce. If she married him after, people would have said she had a hand in it." And did she? Paul thinks not. "I think it was a dreadful accident," he says. "Looking very carefully at the records, I think Amy (Dudley's wife) was frightened. There was a cover-up but I don't think they were covering up murder."

So what of the nature of the queen's relationship with the handsome courtier? Paul has no doubt that it was physical. "If you and I love somebody, sooner or later we are going to express that love physically," he says. "I posed the question 'did they?' and I think yes."

But Paul goes further. From what he's studied, he firmly believes that Elizabeth had a child. "A man turned up at the Spanish court who I'm more than convinced was Elizabeth's son with Dudley," he says. So why keep him secret, thus denying him the throne? "I think Elizabeth was a mistress of spin," says Paul. "She liked to portray herself as the Virgin Queen, married to her country, and she was very keen on her image. She was also very shrewd. She knew she was a woman in a man's world and she knew the rules for her were different. She was almost modern in her outlook."

Another of Paul's theories is that Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn, may not only have been the wife of Henry VIII, but also his daughter. "Those rumours were rife at the time," he says. "Henry VIII had a thing about Howard women and we do know that he definitely had an affair with Anne Boleyn's sister Mary.

There were rumours that they had an illegitimate child. They claimed he also slept with her mother. The story goes that her husband went to Henry and said 'I know you've been visiting my wife and there's a very good chance that Anne could be your daughter'."

According to Paul, this dark suspicion made Henry impotent. "We do know from Henry's own doctor that he wasn't impotent full stop but he seems to have been frightened of Anne and that could have made him impotent," he says. "Not all the time, because they had a stillborn child, but there was something about Anne which rendered Henry impotent. There's a very famous incident where he says to his doctor 'am I not like other men?'"

With so much subterfuge, the suggestion that Elizabeth was killed seems far from fanciful. Yet Paul stops short of believing this. "She was old, she was ill, and the impression I get is that she was neglected," he says. "Her corpse was certainly left alone and no doctors were called. I almost get the impression that they were willing her to die."

Such has been the impact of the book that it's been featured in a documentary, due for screening in the Revealed series on Channel Five. Paul says he relished taking part. "I appear in it quite a lot," he says. "It was filmed in Spain, Evesham and Oxford and I was challenged by an Oxford don in a friendly debate. I thoroughly enjoyed it."

While it can't be easy - especially with a school to run - Paul clearly thrives on what he writes. As long as mysteries remain, he plans to keep exposing them. "I feel very lucky," he says. "It's great to write and there are a lot of fascinating things that go with it."

* The Secret Life of Elizabeth I by Paul Doherty (Greenwich Exchange, £16.99).

* Revealed: The Secret Life of Elizabeth I, will be screened on Channel Five, on June 14.