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The Most Bitter Sibling Rivalries in History

Weird History | January 26, 2026



Anyone who has grown up with a sibling knows how easily rivalries can develop. The desire of brothers and sisters to outperform each other is a nearly universal emotion, one that transcends social class, culture, and time period. In other words, everyone is prone to this rivalry, even US presidents.

History is chock-full of famous siblings with particularly juicy beefs. If humans are already naturally inclined toward competing with their sibs, adding power, wealth, or fame to the equation only inflames that tendency. In societies with hereditary governments, siblings have done all kinds of terrible things to each other to seize power for themselves. In more modern times, while dynastic political families do still exist, high-stakes sibling squabbling often plays out in corporate boardrooms or lawsuits. But throughout history, one thing is clear: Family is complicated.

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Written by Weird History

Comments

This post currently has 42 comments.

  3. @Eazy-ERyder

    January 26, 2026 at 1:46 pm

    Edwin Boothe really DID live the Lincolns, enough to where he once risked his own life to save that of the president's own son Robert from getting hit by a train just a couple of years before the assassination!

  12. @lexigrimhaive

    January 26, 2026 at 1:46 pm

    Mary Tudor did not succeed her father, Henry VIII, she succeeded her half brother Edward VI, who was technically succeeded by his cousin Jane Gray, before Mary took the throne from her, as Mary the rightful heir.
    While Henry did have his marriage to Mary’s mother, Katherine of Aragon, annulled so he could marry Elizabeth’s mother, Anne Boleyn, after Henry executed Anne on trumped up charges, Elizabeth never again had a “superior” claim to the throne over Mary. Mary was the daughter the people wanted, even before Edward was born. The English people had always loved her mother, Katherine of Aragon, and their love extended to Mary from her birth.

    ETA: Oh my gods. Henry II & Eleanor of Aquitaine’s sons were, in order: William (died young), Henry the Young King, Richard later II, Geoffrey, and John later I. While Henry II was wealthy and with lots of land, by the time John, his and Eleanor’s final child, was born, he had nothing left to leave to John. He was therefore called Lackland, and, while it was a dig at John receiving no land inheritance, John was still Henry II’s favorite son (of his sons with Eleanor, anyway).
    Henry predeceased his father, so when Henry II died, Richard became Richard I. He was off in the Holy Lands almost the entirety of his reign, leaving his mother in charge of his kingdom. Also, HENRY did not pit his sons against each other. It was ELEANOR who rallied her sons against their father, as by that time she had come to hate her husband for, specifically but not limited to, his affair with Rosamund Clifford. John was the only one who DIDNT rally against his father, thereby solidifying him as his father’s favorite.

  18. @margaretbarra6390

    January 26, 2026 at 1:46 pm

    This video repeats the story of the highly fictionalized "Other Boleyn Girl" – none of its correct:
    -Mary's child thought to be Henry VIIIs was a girl, Catherine
    -Anne was the younger sister, not the older
    -Anne sent money to Mary after the banishment from court, and no one was allowed to visit Anne in the tower, so there was no snub there
    -Mary Boleyn did not take in Anne's child, she was still the Kings child was raised as such. She peopably never even saw Mary Boleyn after the banishment.

  20. @margaretbarra6390

    January 26, 2026 at 1:46 pm

    Woodstock palace was a 300 year old hunting lodge that hadn't been maintained for decades, and Elizabeth wasn't even allowed to go from one room to the other without being under guard. But I guess it's better than saying in the place where ones mother, step mother and cousin were all executed.

  24. @nikki9125

    January 26, 2026 at 1:46 pm

    What about the great York three, Edward IV, George, Duke of Clarence, & Richard Duke of Gloucester, later Richard III? George first siding with Richard Neville, & marrying Neville’s daughter in an attempt to become King. Then after his return, he fights with his younger brother Richard, not wanting Richard to marry his sister-in-law, so that he can have all their fortune, only to scheme for the crown again & be executed. Richard, of course being far more patient, using the death of his brother Edward IV to seize the crown by calling Edwards marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, illegitimate and possibly killing his two your nephews.
    You also left out Edward VI in the Tudor sibling battle, as he tried to bar his sisters from the throne after his death, leading to Lady Jane Grey becoming the nine day queen.

  25. @afrikasmith1049

    January 26, 2026 at 1:46 pm

    Imagine fighting your brother over a cereal company name and one of them outlives the other and the one that died did want to mend fences but didn't get the chance because of his secretary.

  40. @ToudaHell

    January 26, 2026 at 1:46 pm

    Money and inherited power. The root of all family infighting. My family is fighting over my grandparents money that tore us apart years before my grandmother died.

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