Whitehead were best known for making "Robin Hood Lollies", but this appears to be the only set of cards they ever issued, in 1980. That makes them too late for our updated British Trade Index, but they do appear in our vintage British Trade Index, part three, under WHK-1. The text for that is not very inspiring, simply "Kings & Queens. 105 x 70. Nd. (25)" But we do have a better description, in our magazine, "Cartophilic Notes and News", Volume 8, No.96, dated November-December 1980. This could mean the set was issued in the latter half of the year, or it could point to it being a regional issue which obviously had less chance of being submitted to the New Issues Editor (who at that time was Clifford Duge) so that it could appear in our "New Issues Report". The piece says :
Whitehead (Nottingham) Ltd. "Kings & Queens". Series of 25. (Robin Hood Lollies). This is a series of large coloured cards (size 115 x 70 m/m) with white border and caption at base, the backs being printed in blue, and are numbered and contain an excellent description. The cards are well produced and worthy of a place in any collection. I do not know exactly how the cards were distributed but I doubt if they were actually packed with the lollies.
So do you know how they were distributed ? And do you have any illustrations of the packaging of Robin Hood Lollies, or any information on the firm ?
This image, currently on display at the National Portrait Gallery, is used on many cards but the artist remains unknown. And even they date it at "early 18th century" which is a long time after she lived. So was it taken from an earlier, unknown portrait?
Catherine of Aragon is here because she could have technically called herself the Queen Mother, a term which, in its most basic sense, means a former Queen whose child is currently the reigning Queen, or King. And Catherine of Aragon was Queen to Henry VIII, and the mother of Queen Mary I.
The first Queen Mother was Queen Aelfthryth, who was the mother of Ethelred the Unready, who ruled from 979 to 1016. I could not find her on a cigarette card though - can you? I could find Ethelred the Unready - he is on W.D. & H.O. Wills "Kings and Queens of England" (1898)
The easiest cigarette card of Catherine of Aragon to acquire is John Player “Kings and Queens” 22/50 – which was issued in two sizes, and intriguingly the larger card does not just expand the image to fill the space, but allows for more of the portrait, as you can see here – though it does green out the pillar, which our card includes.
The text tells us that she was the “Daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain … married Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII in 1501 … widowed five months later, and in 1509 married his brother, Henry VIII. For several years there was deep affection between them. But the deaths of all her children except Mary endangered the succession, and Henry`s decision to divorce her was hastened by his passion for Anne Boleyn. The marriage was annulled in 1533, bringing about the breach with Rome. The rest of her life was spent in harsh confinement.”
Carreras “Kings & Queens of England” 24/50 uses the same portrait but a lighter dress, greener, which softens her features. There is no mention of the portrait, but it adds that she was “scarcely sixteen” when she married “Arthur, Prince of Wales” and that she was a widow “in less than five months”. It also tells us that her marriage to her brother-in-law Henry VIII was only accomplished “by a special dispensation of the Pope”. And finally it tells us that “In 1527 Henry expressed doubt as to the validity of his marriage, and in 1533, Cranmer pronounced it illegal and Catherine was divorced”
Our card tells us that she was “born in 1485”, but leaves off Isabella, as if Ferdinand somehow produced her all alone. It agrees with the dates of the marriages, but adds that “When Arthur died she was betrothed to the second son who married her on becoming Henry VIII in 1509”. This hardly sounds very romantic, though it does say “Catherine received affection from him and children were born”. It also tells us that the ”anxiety about the male succession” (obviously he wanted a male son to follow him as King, as he had followed his father) “and his attraction to Anne Boleyn provoked henry to request annulment of their marriage. Rejecting Papal authority he obtained nullity from his own Archbishop so creating the breach with the Roman Church”. But, if you remember our Carreras card, the marriage was only accomplished “by a special dispensation of the Pope”, so it did seem rather bad form to want to go against it, and fairly quickly too.