The Queen of Hearts

First things first! The Queen of Hearts is NOT the same person as the Red Queen. A lot of
people mistakenly believe that these two less-than-pleasant rulers are the same person. The
Red Queen is the main antagonist in Through the Looking Glass, while the Queen of Hearts
is introduced as the antagonist in Lewis Carroll’s first Wonderland book, Alice’s Adventures
in Wonderland. Following the success of Disney’s 1951 hit, Alice in Wonderland, the Queen
of Hearts quickly joined the ranks of some of Disney’s most famous villain characters, where
she’s stayed ever since.

The Cheshire cat explains that all of Wonderland lives under the Queen of Heart’s authority.
She isn’t exactly known for being a kind and benevolent ruler, and even the slightest
agitation can result in a gruesome beheading. While most of the inhabitants can be
described as ‘mad’ to some degree, the Queen of Hearts is best described as absolutely
psychotic, enjoying every minute of it. She takes pleasure in warning Alice that if she loses
her temper, Alice loses her head; and when the White Rabbit takes too long reading all of
the accusations against Alice at her trial, she snaps at him with “Never mind all that. Get to
the part where I lose my temper!”

Despite her being one of the most feared, vicious, and unpredictable rulers in all of fiction,
her character is surprisingly popular. She’s appeared in a number of games, including the
NES Mickey Mousecapade, the extremely popular Kingdom Hearts series, and Disney
Heroes: Battle Mode. She’s also a fan-favourite meet & greet character at many of the
Disney parks around the world, including the Magic Kingdom, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.

If you’d like to meet her yourself, come join us for the Mad Hatter Tea Party experience at
Churnet Valley Railways this Easter. Please make sure not to offend her though, lest you
hear her favourite words: “Off with his head!”