A British woman who is the world’s oldest living person has celebrated her 116th birthday in a care home in Surrey.
Ethel Caterham, who lives in the home in Lightwater, became the oldest person alive in April after the death of Brazilian nun Sister Inah Canabarro aged 116.
She was born on August 21, 1909, making her the last surviving subject of Edward VII.
King Charles, Edward’s great-great-grandson, sent Mrs Caterham a card to celebrate her 115th birthday last year.
The elderly woman, who is the second youngest of eight children, was born three years before the Titanic ship tragedy 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.
A statement released by her care home said: ‘Ethel and her family are so grateful for all of the kind messages and interest shown to her as she celebrates her 116th birthday this year.
‘Ethel will spend the day quietly with her family so that she can enjoy it at her own pace. Thank you again for your kind wishes on this special day.’
Mrs Caterham was born in Shipton Bellinger in Hampshire, before being raised in nearby Tidworth across the county border in Wiltshire.
On her first birthday, it would be another eight years before women in the UK were given the vote.
Her long life has taken in two world wars, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the first Moon landings, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and six different UK monarchs.
She has also lived through 27 prime ministers in Herbert Henry Asquith, David Lloyd George, Andrew Bonar Law, Stanley Baldwin, Ramsay MacDonald, Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, James Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.
The oldest person who ever lived as far as we know was Frenchwoman Jean Louise Calment who died in 1997 at the age of 122 years and 164 days.
She became a nun in 1934 at the age of 26, between World Wars I and II.
Sister Inah had attributed her longevity to God, saying: ‘He is the secret of life. He is the secret of everything.’
For her 110th birthday, she received a blessing from Pope Francis.
Mrs Caterham is believed to be the fourth Brit to hold world’s oldest title, with Anna Eliza Williams the last person from the UK to hold the title, aged 114-years-old when she died in 1987.
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.
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 three years later in 1931 to Britain, where she met her future husband Norman Caterham at a dinner party and 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.
They later began their family when living in Gibraltar, before coming back to the UK to raise their two daughters.
They later moved to Surrey where Mrs Caterham has lived for more than 50 years.
Her husband died in 1976 and their two daughters Gem and Anne have also passed away.
Mrs Caterham’s three granddaughters Kate Henderson, Julia Pauling and Lucy Robinson regularly visit her at the care home.
Speaking to BBC Radio Surrey in 2020, the year she 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.’
