Richard’s date of birth is unknown, but he was still a boy when his father died in 942. His mother was a Breton concubine captured in war and bound to William by a Danish marriage. After William died, Sprota became the wife of Esperleng, a wealthy miller.

Richard was still a boy when his father died, and so he was powerless to stop Louis IV of France when he seized Normandy. Richard escaped from his prison at Laon, allied himself with Norman and Viking leaders, drove Louis out of Rouen, and took back Normandy by 947.

He died in Fecamp, France on November 20, 996 of natural causes.