BIRTHDAY QUEEN

World’s Oldest Person Shares Her Longevity Secrets

The 117-year-old revealed what she believes helped her live so long.

The world’s oldest person has celebrated her 117th birthday after a life spanning two world wars, the sinking of the Titanic, and six British monarchs.

Ethel Caterham marked the milestone Friday surrounded by family and friends at her care home in Surrey, England.

Caterham enjoyed afternoon tea with relatives and fellow residents. A Frank Sinatra tribute singer performed her favorite song, “Three Coins in a Fountain.”

“I’ve had a lovely day celebrating with my family and friends, and I look forward to seeing what next year brings,” she told the UK’s PA Media.

Born Ethel May Collins on Aug. 21, 1909, in Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, she was the seventh of eight children. Caterham grew up in a home without electricity or running water.

She was born in the final year of King Edward VII’s reign and is now believed to be his last surviving subject.

Caterham was 5 years old when World War I began. She has lived through the Russian Revolution, World War II, and the COVID-19 pandemic. She even survived COVID herself after contracting the virus in 2020 at the age of 110.

At 18, Caterham boarded a ship alone and spent three weeks traveling to India, working as a nanny for a British military family.

She returned to England three years later and met her future husband, British Army officer Norman Caterham, at a dinner party in 1931.

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The couple had two daughters, Ethel and Ann, whom Caterham would eventually outlive. She now has three granddaughters and five great-grandkids. Norman died in 1976 after over four decades of marriage.

Caterham has not let age slow her down.

She learned to drive after her husband’s death and was behind the wheel until she was 97.

“When you retire, you must stay busy, must find a hobby,” she advised.

King Charles visited Caterham after her 116th birthday last year.

“Even at 117, I’ve had many firsts this year, from stroking a llama to holding hands with the King,” she said of the experience.

She remembered watching his 1969 investiture as Prince of Wales and teased him about the attention he received as a 21-year-old prince.

“All the girls were in love with you and wanted to marry you,” she told him.

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Caterham became the world’s oldest living person in April 2025 following the death of Brazilian nun Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas at 116.

For her latest birthday, she also received congratulations from the world’s oldest living man, 113-year-old João Marinho Neto of Brazil.

Wearing a pink shirt and smiling for a photograph, Neto sent her a message: “Parabéns, Ethel,” Portuguese for “Congratulations, Ethel.”

Caterham’s daughter Ann, who died in 2020, once predicted her mother would make history.

“I tell her she’ll end up in the record books, but she just takes it all in her stride,” Ann said when Caterham turned 106.

Caterham is now the longest-lived British person, but she remains five years short of the longest-living person in history. The record is held by France’s Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at 122 years and 164 days.

As for the advice Caterham has for living such a long life, she told the Associated Press: “I’ve enjoyed everything in life, but in moderation. I never argue with anyone. I listen to what they say, and then do as I like.”

In 1909, the year Caterham was born, television and commercial radio did not exist, and women in Britain could not vote in parliamentary elections.

Caterham was already 97 when the first iPhone was released.

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Tomas ThorBreaking News Intern

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