Bad King or Good King ?

A morning walk around the centre of Great Malvern this morning, B showing me some of the sights. A lot of “levelling up” funding has been spent on improvements to the theatre and surrounding park - how Malvern can possibly be said to need “levelling up” beats me.

I returned home late afternoon after first of all visiting nearby Worcester cathedral. Another wonderful cathedral, and the burial place of one monarch and one almost monarch. King John - his tomb, which lies in front of the high altar, can be seen in the image - and Arthur Prince of Wales (a much grander structure just out of sight).

The word “Bad” usually precedes “King John”, as he is the villain of the Robin Hood tales, and the king forced to make concessions to the barons through the Magna Carta. But a case can be made that he was a good king (as far as any Plantagenet was a good king). He attempted to restore the country’s finances after his brother Richard (“the lionheart”) had bled the country dry to fund his military campaigns, and governed in England (his brother hardly ever visited and didn’t speak English).

Arthur would have succeeded his father Henry VII but for his untimely death at the age of 15. Had that happened Katherine of Aragon (whom he had been married to at a young age) would not have married his younger brother Henry and there would have been no break with Rome. And all those books about Henry VIII and his six wives would remain unwritten.