King Charles paid a special visit to the world's oldest person, Ethel Caterham, at her care home in Lightwater, Surrey, on Thursday, shortly after bidding farewell to US President Donald Trump at Windsor. The 116-year-old entertained the monarch with her vivid memories of his 1969 investiture as Prince of Wales, telling him that 'all the girls were in love with you and wanted to marry you.'
Charles held Mrs Caterham's hand as he introduced himself before sitting in an armchair next to her. Dressed in gold fur-lined sequined slippers, a patterned sage dress and a pale pink shawl, she recalled his investiture at Caernarfon Castle, prompting the King to exclaim, 'You see, fascinating.' When she mentioned the girls' crushes, he laughed heartily and raised his eyebrows. One of her granddaughters added, 'A true prince – and now the King,' to which Charles quipped, 'Yes well, all that's left of him anyway.'
Mrs Caterham, born on 21 August 1909 in Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, is the last surviving subject of Edward VII. She became the world's oldest living person in April after the death of a 116-year-old Brazilian nun. She celebrated her latest birthday quietly with family but said she would have made an exception for the King, who obliged just weeks later.
The pair also spoke about her fond memories of a Buckingham Palace garden party in the 1960s. On the table between them were birthday cards from Charles and Camilla, the late Queen Elizabeth II, and a framed signed letter from the King congratulating her on her 116th birthday. She has received 17 cards from the royals since turning 100.
Mrs Caterham met her husband, Lieutenant Colonel Norman Caterham, at a dinner party in 1931. They lived in Salisbury and were stationed in Gibraltar and Hong Kong, where she ran a nursery school. She drove until the age of 97 and survived COVID-19 in 2020 at 110. The title of the oldest person ever is held by French woman Jeanne Calment, who lived to 122 years.
