Seven queens star in Sotheby’s show of power, prestige and pearls

Exhibition brings together portraits, many held in private collections, of queens from Tudor times onwards

Seven queens of these islands have been gathered this month in an extraordinary grouping to mark the unrivalled length of Elizabeth II's reign.

Sotheby's auction house has assembled portraits of all the regnant queens from the Tudors onwards, with the exception of Lady Jane Grey, the teenager who claimed the throne for just nine days.