The clue here was the heart, which is not only the seat of remembrance, but that which is so often broken by War.The Queen of Hearts reminds us that whilst the men are out serving their country, back at home their ladies are wistfully waiting, hoping for news on one hand, but also hoping not to get that dreaded envelope that rather coldly announces they will never see their loved one again.
Now this really early card says it shows Miss F Russel. But I have looked and I still do not know who she is, so over to you... Any ideas? One theory suggests that she is Lillian Russell, beloved of Diamond Jim Brady, but I am not so sure about this. She was born in 1860, or maybe 1861, so in 1898 she would be thirty-eight, a bit older than this young lady looks. Also the Miss would be incorrect, as she was first married in 1885.
This set was almost certainly issued overseas, and the back says "Printed in Germany" for two reasons - firstly that it was printed there, by Meissner & Buch, who printed all manner of ephemera, including picture postcards - and secondly because it was printed around the time that goods had to state their country of origin. However this is a good thing, for it allows us to distinguish these cards from W/3C.2, which say "Printed in Saxony". And there is a third batch, W/3C.3, which have no country of origin mark.
There is a list of cards, useful as they are un-numbered. I will try to get that up here though it is over two pages which is not so easy to tackle.
By the time our second reference work to Wills issues was printed, there had been a discovery, and that was that the list was slightly wrong, the compiler had transposed three of the cards. This was corrected, so the King of Spades was now Miss Clements (who had been given as the Queen of Spades), the Queen of Spades was Miss Edith Hathaway (who had been given as the Jack of Spades), and the Jack of Spades was Miss Alberge (who had been given as the King of Spades).