King Charles had a hilarious, eight-word remark to make after he received a compliment from the world’s oldest person – whom he had met recently. The King headed to Lightwater in Surrey on Thursday, after he bid farewell to US President Donald Trump, to meet 116-year-old Ethel Caterham at her care home.
Charles held Mrs Caterham’s hand at the start as he introduced himself. Then, sitting in an armchair next to Mrs Caterham, who was wearing gold fur-lined sequined slippers, a patterned sage dress and a pale pink shawl, the King listened intently as she told him: “I remember when your mother crowned you in Caernarfon Castle. And all the girls were in love with you and wanted to marry you.”
The remark prompted a hearty laugh from the King and a raise of his eyebrows.
One of Mrs Caterham’s granddaughters, Kate Henderson, added: “You were saying that the other day, weren’t you?
“You said ‘Prince Charles was so handsome. All the girls were in love with him’. A true prince – and now the King.”
Charles, who responded with a playful grimace, gave her an eight-word reply: “Yes well, all that’s left of him anyway.”
Mrs Caterham became the oldest living person in April after the death of Brazilian nun Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas at 116.
She was born on August 21 in 1909, in Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, five years before the start of the First World War, as the second youngest of eight siblings.
She is the last surviving subject of Edward VII, who died in May 1910.
In 1927, aged 18 she travelled to India and worked as an au pair to a military family until she was 21.
She chose to celebrate her latest birthday in August quietly with just her family.
