King of Hearts

The King of Hearts, like the Queen of Hearts, was one of the deadly pawns used by the Celestial Toymaker against Steven Taylor and Dodo Chaplet when they were trapped in his realm. The Queen referred to him by the name Henry. When not in a contest, the King stayed in playing card form. (TV: The Celestial Toymaker)

Behind the scenes

 * The King of Hearts appears like a living playing card. A living King of Hearts also appears in Alice in Wonderland.
 * When the King recites the rhyme "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" whilst deciding which of the seven chairs — six of which are deadly, while one remains safe — to choose, he uses the racial slur "n*gger" in the second line, which was still considered acceptable by the BBC at the time of the story's original 1966 broadcast. The rhyme is still present on BBC Audio's CD release of the story, but it has been obscured by Peter Purves's narration to correspond to modern views on the use of the "n-word".