# King Of Hearts

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-hearts/54458>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 14, 2001, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-hearts/54458 "2001-02-14T14:47:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Delila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Delila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delila)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2001, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-hearts/54458/1 "2001-02-14T14:47:57Z")

</div>

Why is the King of Hearts the only King that doesn’t have a mustache?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2001, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-hearts/54458/2 "2001-02-14T15:12:29Z")

</div>

He shaves.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mongrel\_8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@mongrel\_8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mongrel_8)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2001, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-hearts/54458/3 "2001-02-14T16:06:54Z")

</div>

Well according tho this site:  
[http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/playing-cards/tmfaq/tmfaq.html](http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/playing-cards/tmfaq/tmfaq.html)

The king originally had a mustache but it was lost in bad copying.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2001, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-hearts/54458/4 "2001-02-14T16:14:49Z")

</div>

According to this [Playing-Card FAQ](http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/playing-cards/tmfaq/tmfaq.html), the King of Hearts lost his moustache due to poor reproduction techniques. The design that today’s playing cards are based upon is traced to a design popularized in Rouen in France in the early 16th century. The site linked above says:

> [@](#):
>
> These designs, like others, were soon disfigured by uninformed and unskilled copying by block makers, particularly by incompetent English artisans, who produced the grotesque distortions from which our modern cards are ultimately descended.

Pretty judgemental, I’d say.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![don\_Jaime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b4bc9f/32.png) [@don\_Jaime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_Jaime)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2001, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-hearts/54458/5 "2001-02-14T18:23:41Z")

</div>

Are we to assume that bad copying is also why the “Suicide King” looks like he’s stabbing himself in the head? The link doesn’t address this.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2001, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-hearts/54458/6 "2001-02-14T19:32:23Z")

</div>

The “Suicide King” isn’t discussed, but here’s a [chart](http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/playing-cards/tmfaq/hearts.html) showing the evolution of the card.