Philip II of France thought to make use of a potential succession crisis in England and Brittany and for awhile Arthur joined him.

As an infant, Arthur was thought by some to be second in line to the succession of his paternal grandfather, King Henry II of England, after his uncle Richard.

On 11 November 1190, Arthur was named as Richard's heir presumptive[1] and was betrothed to a daughter of King Tancred of Sicily as part of their treaty.

[citation needed] Constance was captured, but Arthur was spirited away to the Court of Philip II of France, to be brought up with Louis.

When Richard died on 6 April 1199, on his deathbed he proclaimed his brother John as his heir, fearing Arthur was too young to look after the throne, but also under the influence of Philip II.

John immediately claimed the throne of England, but much of the Norman nobility were resentful, or concerned, at recognising him as their overlord based upon previous experiences and issues with him, such as when Richard was away on Crusade and John gave away Plantagenet lands to Philip II in an attempt to take control while Richard was absent.

On 18 September, John persuaded the seneschal of Anjou, William des Roches, to defect, claiming Arthur would be a Capetian puppet.

Under the terms of the treaty, Philip recognised John as King of England as heir of his brother Richard I and thus formally abandoned any support for Arthur.

[b] After the signing of the Treaty of Le Goulet, and feeling offended by Philip, Arthur fled to John, his uncle, and was treated kindly, at least initially.

Some unidentified source said that in April 1202, Arthur was again betrothed, this time to Marie of France, a daughter of Philip II and Agnes of Andechs-Merania.

The Duke of Brittany besieged his grandmother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, John's mother, in the Château de Mirebeau.

The Margam Annals provide the following account of Arthur's death: After King John had captured Arthur and kept him alive in prison for some time, at length, in the castle of Rouen, after dinner on the Thursday before Easter, when he was drunk and possessed by the devil ['ebrius et daemonio plenus'], he slew him with his own hand, and tying a heavy stone to the body cast it into the Seine.

It was discovered by a fisherman in his net, and being dragged to the bank and recognized, was taken for secret burial, in fear of the tyrant, to the priory of Bec, which is called St Mary of the Meadow.

After the young man's disappearance, he rose high in John's favour receiving new lands and titles in the Welsh Marches.

[d] In 1268, Henry III gave the manor of Melksham, Wiltshire, to Amesbury for the souls of Eleanor and Arthur,[16][17] ordering the convent to commemorate them along with all kings and queens.

In Randall Garrett's alternative-history fantasy stories, the Lord Darcy series, King Richard survives.

[20] Arthur and his mother Constance appear as characters in a number of episodes of the 1950s British TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood.