The BBC has naturally weighed in on the controversy of the Spare memoir about to come out. Their correspondent writes that there are “historical templates” for the rivalry between royal siblings. “Think of Bad King John versus Good King Richard” in a “power struggle between brothers”. Completely laughable. John was never a match for Richard, who was never really a good king just as John wasn’t wholly a bad king.
So what’s the BBC’s source for this journalistic amatuerism and ineptness? “A 1970s Disney movie.”
The real template was between John’s sons Henry III and Richard of Cornwall. Richard was 15 months younger than “Harry” and was the “spare” for 22 years until the future Edward I was born in 1239. By that point, Richard had raised rebellion against Henry three times. After that, for the remaining 33 years of their lives (they both died in 1272), Henry treated Richard as an equal and they got along fine.
Let’s hope for the BBC’s sake, Disney gets around to making a movie about it.