History TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry / RealLife

* It has been speculated that Queen UsefulNotes/ElizabethII was not immune to this effect. Princess Elizabeth was never intended to be a contender to the throne: her father George was merely the younger brother of King Edward VIII, a man who, barring accident or the unthinkable act -- abdication -- was set to be King until well into the twentieth century.[[note]]Had he not abdicated and had he lived as long as King as he did as a former king, he would have reigned until 1972.[[/note]] But events conspired, her father ascended a tarnished throne as King George VI, led a country through [=WW2=], and died young in 1952, so the eldest of his two daughters became Queen Elizabeth II. The ongoing calculated bad behaviour and imperious hauteur of her younger sister, Princess Margaret Rose, was out in public for all to see: Margaret lived in perpetual jealousy of Elizabeth's role as Queen, [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling and her antics were designed to embarrass the reign.]] Elizabeth is said to have felt like the dowdy and plain one next to her sister, a woman who regularly figured in lists of the world's most beautiful women and who was known for her grand living. While Margaret had some love and affection for her sister, she pushed the boundaries of acceptable behaviour and caused Elizabeth constant dread and embarrassment: her affairs were legion, not especially discreet, and included Peter Sellers and (according to legend) Mick Jagger, among many others. As the sisters entered middle age, however, Elizabeth asserted greater control as Margaret's looks faded and died; lacking the looks to keep rich lovers, Margaret now depended on her sister's dole and had to toe the Windsor party line -- effectively, the Queen was taking her revenge for the put-downs and exquisite embarrassments of earlier years.

* It has been speculated that Queen UsefulNotes/ElizabethII was not immune to this effect. Princess Elizabeth was never intended to be a contender to the throne: her father George was merely the younger brother of King Edward VIII, a man who, barring accident or the unthinkable act -- abdication -- was set to be King until well into the twentieth century. But events conspired, her father ascended a tarnished throne as King George VI, led a country through [=WW2=], and died young in 1952, so the eldest of his two daughters became Queen Elizabeth II. The ongoing calculated bad behaviour and imperious hauteur of her younger sister, Princess Margaret Rose, was out in public for all to see: Margaret lived in perpetual jealousy of Elizabeth's role as Queen, [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling and her antics were designed to embarrass the reign.]] Elizabeth is said to have felt like the dowdy and plain one next to her sister, a woman who regularly figured in lists of the world's most beautiful women and who was known for her grand living. While Margaret had some love and affection for her sister, she pushed the boundaries of acceptable behaviour and caused Elizabeth constant dread and embarrassment: her affairs were legion, not especially discreet, and included Peter Sellers and (according to legend) Mick Jagger, among many others. As the sisters entered middle age, however, Elizabeth asserted greater control as Margaret's looks faded and died; lacking the looks to keep rich lovers, Margaret now depended on her sister's dole and had to toe the Windsor party line -- effectively, the Queen was taking her revenge for the put-downs and exquisite embarrassments of earlier years.

* Creator/JKRowling, the writer of ''Franchise/HarryPotter'', and her sister Dianne. They seem to get along pretty well, but growing up, everybody decided that Rowling was "the smart one" and Dianne was "the pretty one," and neither was particularly happy with their role. (For the record, Dianne is now a lawyer.)
* Authors A.S. Byatt and Margaret Drabble. If Byatt's "The Game" is to be taken as autobiographical, Byatt was the Smart Sister and Drabble was the Popular One.
* Going by her autobiography, Jessica Mitford spent a certain amount of her adolescence in an extraordinarily black-comedic variant on this; she was developing into a lifelong socialist at precisely the same time as her sister Unity was becoming an [[NaziNobleman extremely dedicated British Fascist]] (and personal friends with most of the [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi high command]]). Furthermore, there was a definite pretty one/smart one element to it; while neither was ugly, Unity was considered prettier (once he met her, Hitler -- with whom she may or may not have had an affair -- called her "a perfect specimen of Aryan womanhood"), while Jessica was famous for being crazy-smart (she wrote a lot of articles and books later in life). Until the international situation [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII began to get really dire]], they behaved almost ''exactly'' like every other pair of arguing teenagers. Did we mention they shared a room? Well, they shared a room -- which, as soon as their politics were cemented, they [[ThisIsMySide split down the middle with a chalk line]] and decorated on each side in the symbols of their ideologies (Unity in swastikas and pictures of Hitler, 'Decca' in hammers and sickles and pictures of Lenin).
** What makes this really sad is that there's evidence that when they were children Unity and 'Decca' were very close and shared a secret society and language, among other examples.
* [[Literature/TheDiaryOfAYoungGirl Anne Frank's diary]] is full of this kind of thing about her older sister Margot, who she claimed was prettier, nicer, smarter, more mature, and just "better," in contrast to Anne's adolescent awkwardness and mood swings. She also wrote about times she thought her parents were favoring Margot over her.

** It has been speculated that Queen UsefulNotes/ElizabethII was not immune to this effect. Princess Elizabeth was never intended to be a contender to the throne: her father George was merely the younger brother of King Edward VIII, a man who, barring accident or the unthinkable act -- abdication -- was set to be King until well into the twentieth century. But events conspired, her father ascended a tarnished throne as King George VI, led a country through [=WW2=], and died young in 1952, so the eldest of his two daughters became Queen Elizabeth II. The ongoing calculated bad behaviour and imperious hauteur of her younger sister, Princess Margaret Rose, was out in public for all to see: Margaret lived in perpetual jealousy of Elizabeth's role as Queen, [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling and her antics were designed to embarrass the reign.]] Elizabeth is said to have felt like the dowdy and plain one next to her sister, a woman who regularly figured in lists of the world's most beautiful women and who was known for her grand living. While Margaret had some love and affection for her sister, she pushed the boundaries of acceptable behaviour and caused Elizabeth constant dread and embarrassment: her affairs were legion, not especially discreet, and included Peter Sellers and (according to legend) Mick Jagger, among many others. As the sisters entered middle age, however, Elizabeth asserted greater control as Margaret's looks faded and died; lacking the looks to keep rich lovers, Margaret now depended on her sister's dole and had to toe the Windsor party line -- effectively, the Queen was taking her revenge for the put-downs and exquisite embarrassments of earlier years.

* Chinese empress [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiao_Yanyan Xiao Yan Yan]] had two older sisters and hated both of them. One of them tried to poison her, so Xiao Yan Yan forced her to commit suicide. The other one was imprisoned and executed on Xiao Yan Yan's orders.

** It has been speculated that the current [[UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen Queen Elizabeth]] was not immune to this effect. Princess Elizabeth was never intended to be a contender to the throne: her father George, after all, was merely the younger brother of King Edward VIII, a man who, barring accident or the unthinkable act -- abdication -- was set to be King until well into the twentieth century. But events conspired, her father ascended a tarnished throne as King George VI, led a country through [=WW2=], and died young in 1952, so the eldest of his two daughters became Queen Elizabeth II. The ongoing calculated bad behaviour and imperious hauteur of her younger sister, Princess Margaret Rose, was out in public for all to see: Margaret lived in perpetual jealousy of Elizabeth's role as Queen, [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling and her antics were designed to embarrass the reign.]] Elizabeth is said to have felt like the dowdy and plain one next to her sister, a woman who regularly figured in lists of the world's most beautiful women and who was known for her grand living. While Margaret had some love and affection for her sister, she pushed the boundaries of acceptable behaviour and caused Elizabeth constant dread and embarrassment: her affairs were legion, not especially discreet, and included Peter Sellers and (according to legend) Mick Jagger, among many others. As the sisters entered middle age, however, Elizabeth asserted greater control as Margaret's looks faded and died; lacking the looks to keep rich lovers, Margaret now depended on her sister's dole and had to toe the Windsor party line -- effectively, the Queen was taking her revenge for the put-downs and exquisite embarrassments of earlier years.