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World's oldest person turns 117 today - and still can't get over the time she met the King

When it comes to the world's oldest person, you might be forgiven for thinking their best days are far behind them.

But Ethel Caterham, who turns 117 today, is still experiencing some absolute lifetime highlights.

She said she's looking forward to spending her birthday with friends and family at Hallmark Lakeview Care Home in Surrey after a year of "many firsts".

Top of the list was meeting the King – even getting to hold his hand.

"I look forward to seeing what next year brings," she added.

Mrs Caterham was visited by Charles last September just after she had turned 116. She had become the world's oldest person in May 2025 after the death of a 116-year-old Brazilian nun.

She told the monarch of what it was like to watch him becoming the Prince of Wales in 1969, when he was 21.

"All the girls were in love with you and wanted to marry you," she said.

Charles is the sixth person to sit on the British throne since Mrs Caterham was born in Hampshire on 21 August 1909, five years before the start of the First World War.

She is the last surviving subject of Edward VII, who died in May 1910. Since then, there have been George V, Edward VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II, and now Charles III.

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Mrs Caterham, the second youngest of eight siblings, lost her husband, former army lieutenant colonel Norman, in 1976, who she had met at a dinner party in 1931.

They lived in Salisbury before being stationed in Gibraltar and Hong Kong. Mrs Caterham set up a nursery while in Hong Kong and raised two daughters, both of whom died before her.

She has also lived in India, where she worked as an au pair to a military family between the ages of 18 and 21.

Mrs Caterham is still five years short of the record for oldest person ever – that's Jeanne Calment, of France, who lived until she was 122. She died back in 1997.

Sky News

(c) Sky News 2026: World's oldest person turns 117 today - and still can't get over the time she met the King

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