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Home / World

World’s oldest person Ethel Caterham celebrates 116th with King Charles visit

Imogene Bedford
Journalist·NZ Herald·
23 Sep, 2025 03:00 AM2 mins to read

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King Charles chats with British woman Ethel Caterham, the world's oldest person who turned 116 last month. Photo / Royal Family

King Charles chats with British woman Ethel Caterham, the world's oldest person who turned 116 last month. Photo / Royal Family

The world’s oldest person had a royal visitor over the weekend after she commemorated another milestone birthday in August.

King Charles III met with Ethel Caterham on Saturday to celebrate her 116th birthday, the Daily Mail reports, after sending her a congratulatory letter for her special day last year.

Wearing a pair of ornate green slippers and a pink shawl, Caterham seemed to be in a spritely mood as she met the monarch.

“All the girls were in love with you,” Caterham is said to have remarked of watching the King’s investiture as the Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle in the 1960s.

Characteristic of his self-deprecating sense of humour, the King responded, “Yes, well, all that’s left of him anyway”.

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He laughed as one of Caterham’s granddaughters suggested it was a comment she had heard her grandmother make before.

The pair also reportedly spoke fondly of a Buckingham Palace garden party Caterham attended in the 1960s.

Caterham said the secret to her long life is “never arguing with anyone, I listen and I do what I like”.

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The world’s previous oldest person, Sister Inah Canabarro of Brazil, died on April 30, passing the auspicious mantle to Caterham.

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A post shared by The Royal Family (@theroyalfamily)

The supercentenarian has survived her husband Norman and both of her daughters, Gem and Anne.

Born on August 21, 1909, Caterham has lived through a host of major global events, from the sinking of the Titanic to the Covid-19 pandemic.

She spent time in India, Hong Kong and Gibraltar before she and her family relocated to Surrey, Britain, where she has spent the past 50 years.

Now based in a local care home there, Caterham told BBC Radio Surrey last year she has taken life’s “highs and lows” in her stride.

“I’ve been all over the world and I’ve ended up in this lovely home, where everyone is falling over themselves for me, giving me everything I want.”

She celebrated her most recent birthday alongside her three granddaughters and five great-granddaughters.

Earlier in the year, she received a birthday message from the world’s oldest man, Brazil’s João Marinho Neto.

Marinho Neto, 112, posed for a photo with a picture of Caterham and a sign that read Ethel Feliz Aniversário – “Happy Birthday Ethel” in his native Portuguese.

It is believed to be the only interaction between the oldest man and oldest woman in history.

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