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 (that is, between the king and the jack). In the standard English playing card deck, the Queen and the other face cards represent no one in particular, although 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. However, the court cards in a French deck do have names. Confusion often arises because the suits in an English deck came from the French deck as well. Following are the personages represented by the Queens in the French deck:
- Queen of Spades: Pallas
- Queen of Hearts: Rachel (Biblical figure)
- Queen of Diamonds: Argine (an anagram of Regina which is Latin for Queen)
- Queen of Clubs: Judith (Biblical figure)
Hearts
In the Card game Hearts if you concede the Queen of Spades in a trick then you concede 13 Points, unless you also concede all 13 Hearts (Shoot the Moon) in which case your 3 opponents all concede 26 Points.
Example cards
| Queen of Spades | Queen of Clubs | Queen of Hearts | Queen of Diamonds |
|---|---|---|---|
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See also
- Queen of Hearts, a character from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland
- "The Queen of Spades", a short story by Alexander Sergeievitch Pushkin.
- The Queen of Spades, an opera by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky based on Pushkin's story.
