King Charles received a charming compliment during a visit to 116-year-old Ethel Caterham, recognized as the world’s oldest living person.
During their meeting at her care home in Lightwater, Surrey, Mrs. Caterham told the monarch: “All the girls were in love with you and wanted to marry you.” The King laughed warmly at the remark, raising his eyebrows in amusement.
Charles, who had earlier bid farewell to Donald Trump at Windsor, sat beside Mrs. Caterham as she recalled watching his investiture as Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle in 1969. Delighted, he remarked: “You see, fascinating.”
Her granddaughter, Kate Henderson, echoed the sentiment, telling him: “Prince Charles was so handsome. All the girls were in love with him. A true prince – and now the King.” To this, Charles jokingly replied: “Yes, well, all that’s left of him anyway.”
On a small table nearby rested birthday cards from both King Charles and Queen Camilla, one from the late Queen Elizabeth II, and a signed letter congratulating Mrs. Caterham on becoming the world’s oldest person. Over the years, she has received 17 cards from the monarch and his late mother since turning 100.
Ethel Caterham, born in 1909 in Hampshire, is the last surviving subject of Edward VII. She spent her youth as an au pair in India, later marrying Lieutenant Colonel Norman Caterham, with whom she lived in Salisbury, Gibraltar, and Hong Kong. She founded a nursery school in Hong Kong and raised two daughters, though both have since passed away.
Remarkably resilient, Mrs. Caterham drove until the age of 97, enjoyed playing bridge well past 100, and even survived Covid-19 in 2020 at the age of 110.
