RICHARD I King of England 1189-1199

A strange choice of statue to front a democratic parliament you might think.
Probably no other historical king of England has so much legend attached to him and so much reputation, which is ill founded. He spent his entire life as a 'warrior'. He was apparently an excellent soldier, fearless, brave and a great tactician, but he was useless at everything else. He left no heir, and spent a considerable fortune on his military exploits. The English, in their usual way of preferring the legend to the facts, have long cherished the memory of the man who, in fact, had no interest in England other than as a source of revenue, barely spoke English and was a' ruthless fighting machine' who made enemies of most of the royalty of Europe was responsible for massacring Jews in England and of course Muslims in the 'Holly' Land.

Quite why a statue of him should have pride of place outside parliament is not clear.see
see