“Despite being born in England, Richard may not have spoken English.” That comment about King Richard the Lionheart is from former BBC television producer and historian Douglas Boyd.

In 8 facts about Richard the Lionheart, Boyd writes, “Richard did not spend a great deal of time in England and he may not have learned to speak English. In his whole reign, he spent no more than six months north of the Channel.”

Here is an excerpt from the Amazon.com preview of Boyd’s book Lionheart: The True Story of England’s Crusader King:

When people think of Richard the Lionheart they recall the scene at the end of every Robin Hood epic when he returns from the Crusades to punish his treacherous brother John and the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham. In reality Richard detested England and the English, was deeply troubled by his own sexuality and was noted for greed, not generosity, and for murder rather than mercy.

From ThoughtCo: “Richard the Lionheart was the third son of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and although his eldest brother died young, the next in line, Henry, was named heir. Thus, Richard grew up with little realistic expectations of achieving the English throne. In any case, he was more interested in the family’s French holdings than he was in England; he spoke little English, and he was made duke of the lands his mother had brought to her marriage when he was quite young: Aquitaine in 1168, and Poitiers three years later.”

From Historic UK magazine: “It appears that he [Richard] hadn’t much interest in being king … in his ten years as monarch he only spent a few months in England, and it is doubtful that he could actually speak the English language. He once remarked that he would have sold the whole country if he could have found a buyer. Fortunately he couldn’t find anyone with the necessary funds!”

According to Britroyals.com, Richard “spoke only French.”

So, a French duke (Duke of Aquitaine) named Richard inherited the English throne but didn’t speak English, didn’t live in England and didn’t like England.

Did Robin Hood know about this?

Featured Image: Richard I the Lionheart, King of England by Merry Joseph Blondel (1781-1853). Featured Image in Public Domain.

David Robertson

The “Wanted” posters say the following about David: “Wanted: A refugee from planet Melmac masquerading as a human. Loves cats. If seen, contact the Alien Task Force.”

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