World's oldest person celebrates 117th birthday
Ethel Caterham of Britain, born nine years before the proclamation of the Republic of Latvia, is celebrating her 117th birthday today. She became the world's oldest living person last April.
Today, August 21, the world's oldest living person — British resident Ethel Caterham — is celebrating her 117th birthday. She lives at the Hallmark Lakeview care home in Lightwater and became the world's oldest person in April 2025, following the death of Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas at age 116.
Born in 1909, nine years before Latvia proclaimed its independence, Ethel Caterham has lived through two world wars. According to Guinness World Records, she is also one of the oldest people in the world to have survived Covid-19, having contracted the virus in 2020 at the age of 110.
A long life
Ethel was the second youngest of eight children in her family. As a teenager she moved to India, where she worked as a nanny for a military family. She met her husband Norman in 1931 after returning home, and the couple later moved to Hong Kong, where Ethel ran a kindergarten.
The couple had two daughters, both of whom have since died, as has Norman, who passed away in 1976. Longevity appears to run in the family — Ethel's sister Gladys also reached an advanced age, living to 104. Ethel herself remained active well into old age, still driving a car at 97.
In September last year, shortly after her 116th birthday, Ethel was visited by King Charles III of Britain. During the visit, she recalled the king's investiture as Prince of Wales in 1969, when he was just 21, joking about how all the girls at the time were in love with him.
