List of British monarchs by longevity
This is a list of British monarchs by longevity since the Union of the Crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1603. To maintain consistency within the table, the dates of birth and death for each monarch are given in New Style. Two measures of the longevity are given—this is to allow for the differing number of leap days occurring within the life of each monarch. The first column is the number of days between date of birth and date of death, allowing for leap days; the second column breaks this number down into years, and days, with the years being the number of whole years the monarch lived, and then days after their last birthday. Elizabeth II is the longest lived British sovereign.
Rank | Monarch | Life Dates | Lifespan | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Birth | Death | Days | Longevity | ||
1 | Elizabeth II | 21 April 1926 | – | 34,625 | 94 years, 291 days* |
2 | Victoria | 24 May 1819 | 22 January 1901 | 29,828 | 81 years, 243 days |
3 | George III | 4 June 1738 | 29 January 1820 | 29,823 | 81 years, 239 days |
4 | Edward VIII | 23 June 1894 | 28 May 1972 | 28,463 | 77 years, 340 days |
5 | George II | 10 November 1683 | 25 October 1760 | 28,108 | 76 years, 350 days |
6 | William IV | 21 August 1765 | 20 June 1837 | 26,235 | 71 years, 303 days |
7 | George V | 3 June 1865 | 20 January 1936 | 25,797 | 70 years, 231 days |
8 | Edward VII | 9 November 1841 | 6 May 1910 | 25,014 | 68 years, 178 days |
9 | James II and VII | 24 October 1633 | 16 September 1701 | 24,798 | 67 years, 327 days |
10 | George IV | 12 August 1762 | 26 June 1830 | 24,789 | 67 years, 318 days |
11 | George I | 7 June 1660 | 22 June 1727 | 24,485 | 67 years, 15 days |
12 | James VI and I | 19 June 1566 | 27 March 1625 | 21,466 | 58 years, 281 days |
13 | George VI | 14 December 1895 | 6 February 1952 | 20,507 | 56 years, 54 days |
14 | Charles II | 8 June 1630 | 6 February 1685 | 19,977 | 54 years, 253 days |
15 | William III and II | 14 November 1650 | 19 March 1702 | 18,752 | 51 years, 125 days |
16 | Anne | 16 February 1665 | 12 August 1714 | 18,073 | 49 years, 177 days |
17 | Charles I | 29 November 1600 | 9 February 1649 | 17,604 | 48 years, 72 days |
18 | Mary II | 10 May 1662 | 7 January 1695 | 11,930 | 32 years, 242 days |
*Updated daily according to UTC.
While Queen Victoria lived for only 4 days more than George III in terms of years and days format, she actually lived for five days more because there were 20 leap days during Victoria's life and only 19 leap days during the life of George III.
If Charles, Prince of Wales, were to accede to the throne, he would immediately be ranked in 6th place with an age of 72 years, 84 days. If his son, William, Duke of Cambridge, were to accede any time before September 2030, he would be ranked between Charles I and Mary II.