A SET of playing cards used by King Chares II and Catherine of Braganza is being auctioned in Salisbury today.

The 17th-century cards, which the king is believed to have used at the home of MP Jeffery Amherst, in Riverhead, Kent, were found in an attic.

The cards were found with a note which reads: "Cards that King Charles & Queen Catherine played with at my great Grandfather’s, Mr Amherst of Riverhead on their way to Tunbridge Wells."

Charles and Catherine are believed to have passed through Amherst's house on their way to the spa waters at Tunbridge Wells, where they would often go in an attempt to improve the queen's fertility.

Works of Art specialist, Mark Yuan-Richards, who is handling the sale of the cards at Woolley and Wallis in Salisbury said: "The fine condition of these cards, and the fact that it is a complete set, suggests that they may have only been used by the Royal couple and then put away for posterity,

"The vendor inherited the set from his great-aunt, who kept them boxed away in her attic. We can trace her family back through eight generations to Jeffery Amherst so the set has clearly been passed down over the centuries and treasured all that time."

The cards are believed to have been made by Robert Whitfield – one time Master of the Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards.

They are marked as ‘superfine’ and given gilt edges, meaning that they are of the best quality.

The Jack of Clubs is inscribed ‘C Hewson’ which is a reference to the knavish Cromwellian Colonel John Hewson, who signed the death warrant of Charles I in 1649.

Mark continued: "Playing cards from this time are scarce survivals, given the delicate nature of their material and the way they were often manhandled during games.

"Full sets are even more scarce and the remarkable provenance of these marks them out as true museum pieces."

The cards are to be auctioned today, October 4, and tomorrow, October 5, at Wooley and Wallis, with a pre-sale estimate of £2,000 - £3,000.