Queen (playing card)

For the 1966 Greek film, see Queen of Clubs (film).

Queen cards of all four suits in a standard deck

The Queen is a playing card with a picture of a queen on it. The usual rank of a queen is as if it were 12 (or 13), that is, between the King and the Jack, or Knight.

Queen of Flowers from the first printed deck (15th century)

In the standard English playing card deck, legend states the Queen of Hearts is a representation of Elizabeth of York, queen consort of Henry VII of England. Certainly the headdress the queen wears under her crown is of the Early Tudor era.

In contrast, French deck manufacturers traditionally assigned each court card a particular historical or mythological personage. The Queens in a French deck have traditionally assigned names as follows:

• Queen of Spades: Athena
• Queen of Hearts: Judith (Biblical figure)
• Queen of Diamonds: Rachel (Biblical figure)
• Queen of Clubs: Argine (an anagram of Regina, Latin for "queen")

See also

• List of poker hand nicknames
• The Queen of Hearts, a character from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
• Heart Queen, Karen Mizuki's codename in JAKQ Dengekitai.
• "The Queen of Spades", a short story by Alexander Pushkin
• The Queen of Spades, an opera by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky based on Pushkin's story
• Queen of Spades, the title used by Chibodee Crocket in the 1994 anime Mobile Fighter G Gundam
• "Queen of Hearts", a Hank DeVito-written 1979 song by Dave Edmunds; the international hit version was released in 1981 by Juice Newton.
• Queen of Hearts, a BBC TV play of 1985
• Marsha, Queen of Diamonds, a villain from the 60s Batman TV series played by Carolyn Jones.
• Queen of Clubs: Ruby, Onyx and Diamond Editions, a remix album trilogy featuring singer-songwriter Nadia Ali as the Queen of Clubs
• Three-card Monte