The world’s oldest living person, Ethel Caterham, is celebrating her 116th birthday. Caterham, who resides in a care home in Lightwater, Surrey, gained the title in April following the de.ath of Brazilian nun Sister Inah Canbarro Lucas.
Born on August 21, 1909, she is the last surviving subject of Edward VII. King Charles III, his great-great-grandson, sent her a card for her 115th birthday in 2024.
Mrs. Caterham lived through two world wars, the Russian Revolution, and was born three years before the Titanic disaster. Born in Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, she was the second youngest of eight children. She worked as an au pair in India as a teenager and later lived in Hong Kong and Gibraltar with her husband, Norman, a lieutenant colonel in the army.
A statement from her care home expressed gratitude for the birthday wishes, noting that she would spend the day quietly with her family.
The oldest person whose age could be verified was Frenchwoman Jeanne Louise Calment, who d!ed in 1997 at the age of 122 years and 164 days.