For her date with the King, it was no surprise that Ethel Caterham opted to pair her sage dress with gold fur-lined sequinned slippers.
Because the 116-year-old – officially the world’s oldest person – has always been strong-willed.
As she previously revealed, she believes the secret to her remarkably long life is, ‘never arguing with anyone, I listen and I do what I like’.
The meeting with His Majesty at her care home in Surrey on Saturday was just the latest moment in the spotlight for the remarkable supercentenarian.
In April, she humbly took on the mantle of the world’s oldest person after the death of Brazilian nun Sister Inah Canabarro at the age of 116.
And in August, Mrs Caterham celebrated turning the same age.
But the last living subject of King Edward VII has weathered much heartbreak in her incredible life.
Her husband, who she met at a dinner party in 1931, died nearly 50 years ago in 1976.
Ethel Caterham, 116, is the world’s oldest person. Above: Pictured yesterday at
King Charles III beamed as he met the world’s older person, 116-year-old Ethel Caterham (pictured) shortly after bidding farewell to US President Donald Trump
And the couple’s two daughters, Gem and Anne, are also no longer with us.
Mrs Caterham, was born Ethel Collins in Shipton Bellinger, in Hampshire on August 21, 1909 – three years before the sinking of the Titanic and eight years before the Russian Revolution.
One of her sisters, Gladys Babilas, also reached a century, having been born in 1897 and living to the age of 104.
Mrs Caterham was 18 when she travelled alone by ship for three weeks to take up a job as an au pair to a military family in India.
She returned to Britain in 1931, and that year met future husband Norman. They wed at Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire in 1933.
He became a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Army Pay Corps and the couple originally lived in Harnham, near Salisbury, before being stationed in Hong Kong and Gibraltar.
During her time in Hong Kong, Mrs Caterham set up a nursery where she taught English, crafts and games.
The couple began their family when living in Gibraltar, but opted to raise their daughters back in Britain.
They later moved to Surrey, where Mrs Caterham has lived for more than 50 years.
She lived with her younger daughter, Anne, until her death aged 82 in February 2020.
Speaking to BBC Radio Surrey that year, during which she also survived Covid, Mrs Caterham said: ‘I’ve taken everything in my stride, the highs and lows.
‘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.’
During her meeting with the King yesterday, Mrs Caterham paired her ornate slippers with a patterned sage dress and a pale pink shawl.
She told His Majesty that she remembered his 1969 investiture, at which the then 21-year-old was formally presented with his Prince of Wales title by his mother Queen Elizabeth II.
Mrs Caterham made Charles laugh as she recalled how ‘all the girls were in love with you and wanted to marry you’.
Her granddaughter, Kate Henderson, added: ‘You were saying that the other day, weren’t you?
‘You said, “Prince Charles was so handsome. All the girls were in love with him”. A true prince – and now the King.’
Charles grimaced as he quipped: ‘Yes well, all that’s left of him anyway.’
The pair also spoke about Mrs Caterham’s fond memories of a Buckingham Palace garden party she attended in the 1960s.
On the table between them was a previous birthday card from Charles and Camilla, one from the late Queen Elizabeth and a framed, signed letter from the King congratulating Mrs Caterham on her 116th birthday.
Ethel Caterham (pictured at her care home in Surrey) became the oldest person alive in April
Mrs Caterham’s residential and dementia home renamed an area of their garden as a tribute to her
In 2023, Mrs Caterham featured on the monarchy’s official Instagram when she was filmed receiving a card from the King to mark her 114th birthday.
She was joined by her three granddaughters, Kate, Julia Pauling and Lucy Robinson.
Mrs Caterham is believed to be the fourth Brit to hold the title of the world’s oldest person.
Anna Eliza Williams, who died aged 114 in 1987, was the previous British holder.
Alice Stevenson, aged 112 before her death in 1973, and 111-year-old Ada Roe who died in 1970, are the other two Brits to hold the title.
The world’s oldest people: From French woman who continued smoking until she was 117 to Japanese man who put his good health down to being in the sun
Jeanne Calment
The certified oldest person ever was French woman Jeanne Calment, who died aged 122 and 164 days in 1997.
Her unparalleled longevity has been the subject of numerous studies, both before and after her death.
Jeanne enjoyed good health for the majority of her life and even took up fencing as a hobby at the age of 85.
The world’s oldest man ever was Jiroemon Kimura, from Japan, who died aged 116 years, 54 days in 2013
Ms Calment also claimed to have met the artist Vincent van Gogh, to whom she sold painting canvasses in her father’s shop as a teenager.
‘He was ugly as sin, had a vile temper and smelled of booze,’ she said.
She continued smoking until she was 117 and used to rub olive oil into her skin.
Jiroemon Kimura
Japanese man Jiroemon Kimura, officially the oldest man to have ever lived, died aged 116 in 2013.
On his 115th birthday, Mr Kimura attributed his longevity to getting out in the sunlight.
‘I am always looking up towards the sky. That is how I am,’ he said.
Kimura ate a three-meal-a-day diet of rice, pumpkins and sweet potatoes.
The world’s oldest man ever was Jiroemon Kimura, from Japan, who died aged 116 years, 54 days in 2013
He reportedly did not smoke and said he only ate until he felt 80 per cent full.
According to one town official his motto in life was ‘to eat light and live long’.
When he was born back in 1897, Japan was coming to the end of its feudal period which saw the final days of the Samurai warrior class and the birth of a modern imperialist state.
When Japan entered WWI on the side of the British in 1915 he was already 18 years old, and when it allied itself with Germany in 1940 at the start of WWII he was already pushing on 43.
When the U.S. dropped the bomb on Hiroshima he was 48 but he resumed work as a postman at the end of the war and went on to live for another 68 years.
Kane Tanaka
When Japanese woman Kane Tanaka died aged 119 in 2022, she was the world’s oldest person.
She was born January 2, 1903, in the southwestern Fukuoka region of Japan in the same year the Wright brothers flew for the first time and Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.
When Japanese woman Kane Tanaka died aged 119 in 2022, she was the world’s oldest person
In her younger years, Ms Tanaka ran various businesses including a noodle shop and a rice cake store.
A century ago, she married Hideo Tanaka in 1922, giving birth to four children and adopting a fifth.
She had planned to use a wheelchair to take part in the torch relay for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but the pandemic prevented her from doing so.
On her 119th birthday on January 2, 2022, Ms Tanaka’s family members said she hoped to live to 120.
In her younger years, Ms Tanaka ran various businesses including a noodle shop and a rice cake store
Sarah Knauss
American woman Sarah Knauss died on December 30, 1999, just two days short of the new Millennium.
The former seamstress, who loved chocolate, crisps, popcorn and cashew nuts, left a daughter aged 96 when she died.
American woman Sarah Knauss died on December 30, 1999, just two days short of the new Millennium. The former seamstress, who loved chocolate, crisps, popcorn and cashew nuts, left a daughter aged 96 when she died
Born on September 24, 1880, she died peacefully in her sleep in a nursing home in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Although she was frail in her later years, she continued to get up most mornings to have breakfast in the dining room of her care home and also visited the hairdresser once a week.
At her 119th birthday, Mrs Knauss’s great-great-great grandson, then aged three, was present.
