Richard III is buried today, the climax of a week of events that has captured the public imagination (nothing like as much as Jeremy Clarkson obviously, but Richard was only king of England, not presenter of Top Gear). I’ve already incurred the wrath of the Ricardians on the subject of the unfortunate disappearance of Richard's two nephews, but I'd like to add an article that appeared a decade ago which explained how the War of the Roses fitted a Darwinian theory of natural selection, or should that be Hamiltonian (W.D. Hamilton being the most famous proponent of kin selection). It was a war between second cousins in which people fought alongside their brothers, and most of the killings fit in with this pattern of "me and my brother against my cousin". Richard III, almost uniquely, broke this rule by (allegedly!) killing his nephews and, some argue, one of his brothers. Here is the article (H/T Steve Sailer – original link a 404.)
11:20 AM
Until Richard III the War of the Roses was fought on Darwinian lines
Richard III's (alleged) killing of his nephews broke the ultimate taboo
Ed West

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