The Queen Mother's siblings used to call her Buffy, decades before the vampire-slaying TV character first hit our screens.

Author Stephen Shannon has completed a book on royal nicknames and is now working on another about what the Mafia call each other.

Mr Shannon sent a copy of King's Nicknames to the Queen and the Prince of Wales, even though he hadn't included them in the work.

He addressed the parcel to Prince Charles, with a nickname of his own invention.

Mr Shannon said: "I labelled it Prince Charles and Camilla, which is how I think he would like to be known.

"I think he wants to be accepted in that way."

Mr Shannon duly received a reply from St James's Palace, which said: "His Royal Highness was touched that you should have thought of him in this way." It did not mention Camilla Parker-Bowles.

The author, from Dyke Road Avenue, Hove, plans to send a copy to the Queen Mother.

He said: "I discovered the Queen Mum used to be called Buffy by her siblings because she was always buffing her nails.

"Her husband, George VI, was known as Our Bertie because his full name was George Albert.

"The royals now don't seem to have nicknames any more, probably because people aren't as interested and they don't have the esteem and respect from the public they once had.

"A lot of the nicknames in the past were very respectful. Elizabeth I was known as Good Queen Bess, Queen of Shepherds and the Glory of her Sex, while Phillip I of Spain was called The Handsome."

Far more common in Mr Shannon's book are pet names of a less complimentary nature.

Charles II was known as the Mutton Eating Monarch in the days when mutton meant a prostitute and Louis XVIII was often referred to as the King of Slops after telling starving Parisians in the 18th Century to eat pig slops.

Mr Shannon, 43, who is a surveyor, became interested in nicknames after finding a dusty Victorian book on the subject in Brighton library. He thought they were a quirky part of history that time often forgot.

But his own childhood name is one he would rather forget.

He said: "I used to be called Ratty because kids at school thought I looked like the character out of Wind in the Willows. I had buck teeth and sallow skin."

His book Mafia Nicknames will reveal a wittier side to the gangster world. In Mafia circles it seems you are what you eat.

Mr Shannon said: "A lot of their nicknames were to do with food because they were good Italian boys who ate a lot. They had names like Hamburger or Tuna."

Kings' Nicknames is available from Waterstones, WH Smith and Sussex Stationers at £9.95.