The original of this pack was issued by the printing company of De La Rue & Co in 1874 to mark the wedding of Queen Victoria's second son, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and the Grand Duchess, Marie Alexandrovina, daughter of Alexander II, Emperor of Russia. The designer of the pack was Reuben Townroe, a well-known artist and sculptor who designed the ornamental terracotta work on the Royal Albert Hall and many decorative works at the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum). The pack was published by Felix Summerley's Art Manufacturers, set up by Henry Cole in the 1840s. Sixteen original cards from the pack are in the V&A's collection, given as part of the Sir Henry Cole Bequest.

The design of the cards follows the traditional format of a standard English pack except that the aces and courts (kings and queens but not the jacks) bear recognisable portraits of European royalty, with the names of their countries included in a decorative band within the design. The original wrapper for the pack bore the title 'International Playing-Cards' and it is the portrayal of these illustrious figures in a happy adaptation of the 'face' cards to a royal occasion, which gives the pack its unique make-up. The aces are set within a frame of symbolic national devices and feature the most important heads of state: Queen Victoria, Tsar Alexander II, Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany and Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States. The Kings represent Leopold II, King of the Belgians; Alexander, Crown Prince of Russia; Edward, Prince of Wales and Victor Emmanuel II, King of Italy. The Queens represent Alexandra, Princess of Wales; Empress Elisabeth of Austria; Queen Olga of Greece and Victoria Adelaide Mary Louise, Crown Princess of Germany. All the Jacks are anonymous figures in costume of the various countries named on the cards although The Jack of Hearts (Scotland) has been identified by modern commentators as Queen Victoria's devoted servant John Brown.The 'Times' published a notice of the cards on 3rd December 1874 which helped to identify the portraits on the courts and aces.

The commemorative back design features the arms of the Duke of Edinburgh (Alfred) above the imperial Russian arms (for Alfred's wife, Maria Alexandrovina) surrounded by sprigs of acorns, thistles, roses and shamrock printed in gold. However the examples already held by the Victoria and Albert Museum, of sixteen cards from the 1874 pack, have plain red backs, plus four examples of the decorated backs.

This facsimile pack was based on an original pack in the Waddington Playing Card Collection at the Guildhall Library, London. John Berry, the publisher of this pack, issued the catalogue of part of this collection and was an expert on the history of playing cards. This pack was published on the occasion of the 2003 Annual Convention of the International Playing Card Society and packs were given as a gift to delegates.