List of British monarchs by longevity
This is a list of British monarchs by longevity since the Union of the Crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1603.
To maintain consistency within the table, the dates of birth and death for each monarch are given in New Style.
Two measures of the longevity are given—this is to allow for the differing number of leap days occurring within the life of each monarch. The first column is the number of days between date of birth and date of death, allowing for leap days; the second column breaks this number down into years, and days, with the years being the number of whole years the monarch lived, and then days after his or her last birthday.
Rank | Monarch | Date of birth | Date of death | Longevity | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
days | years/days | ||||
1 | Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom | 21 April 1926 | Living | 32,073 | 87 years, 296 days* |
2 | Victoria of the United Kingdom | 24 May 1819 | 22 January 1901 | 29,828 | 81 years, 243 days |
3 | George III of the United Kingdom | 4 June 1738 | 29 January 1820 | 29,823 | 81 years, 239 days |
4 | Edward VIII of the United Kingdom | 23 June 1894 | 28 May 1972 | 28,463 | 77 years, 340 days |
5 | George II of Great Britain | 10 November 1683 | 25 October 1760 | 28,108 | 76 years, 350 days |
6 | William IV of the United Kingdom | 21 August 1765 | 20 June 1837 | 26,235 | 71 years, 303 days |
7 | George V of the United Kingdom | 3 June 1865 | 20 January 1936 | 25,797 | 70 years, 231 days |
8 | Edward VII of the United Kingdom | 9 November 1841 | 6 May 1910 | 25,014 | 68 years, 178 days |
9 | James II of England | 24 October 1633 | 16 September 1701 | 24,798 | 67 years, 327 days |
10 | George IV of the United Kingdom | 12 August 1762 | 26 June 1830 | 24,789 | 67 years, 318 days |
11 | George I of Great Britain | 7 June 1660 | 22 June 1727 | 24,485 | 67 years, 15 days |
12 | James VI of Scotland | 19 June 1566 | 6 April 1625 | 21,476 | 58 years, 291 days |
13 | George VI of the United Kingdom | 14 December 1895 | 6 February 1952 | 20,507 | 56 years, 54 days |
14 | Charles II of England | 8 June 1630 | 6 February 1685 | 19,977 | 54 years, 253 days |
15 | William III of England | 14 November 1650 | 19 March 1702 | 18,752 | 51 years, 125 days |
16 | Anne of Great Britain | 16 February 1665 | 12 August 1714 | 18,073 | 49 years, 177 days |
17 | Charles I of England | 29 November 1600 | 9 February 1649 | 17,604 | 48 years, 72 days |
18 | Mary II of England | 10 May 1662 | 7 January 1695 | 11,930 | 32 years, 242 days |
* As of 11 February 2014.
Should HRH The Prince of Wales accede to the throne, he would immediately be ranked 12th.
Were this list to include all British heads of state as well as monarchs, the second ranked name by longevity would be Richard Cromwell, who served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland for 265 days between the death of his father Oliver Cromwell, and the restoration of the Stuart Monarchy. His entry would appear as:
Rank | Head of State | Date of birth | Date of death | Longevity | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
days | years/days | ||||
2 | Richard Cromwell, 2nd Lord Protector | 4 October 1626 | 12 July 1712 | 31,327 | 85 years, 282 days |
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II surpassed Victoria as oldest reigning monarch on 21 December 2007, having surpassed George III five days earlier. She celebrated her Diamond Jubilee on 6 February 2012. Should she be reigning on:
- 10 September 2015, she would surpass Queen Victoria as the longest-reigning British monarch. At that point she would be 32,649 days (89 years, 142 days) old.
- 6 February 2022, she would celebrate her Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years on the throne. At that point she would be 34,990 days (95 years, 291 days) old.
- 26 May 2024, she would surpass Louis XIV of France as the longest-reigning monarch in European history. At that point she would be 35,831 days (98 years, 36 days) old.
See also
- List of monarchs of the British Isles by cause of death
- List of monarchs in Britain by length of reign
- List of UK monarchy records