Longest Lived Royals

[BrazilianEmpire]

Originally Posted by nascarlucy

I'm trying to think of a British male royal who lived to be in their 80's and can't really think of anyone. Does anyone know who is the next oldest after Prince Phillip.

Prince Arthur (1850-1942), Duke of Connaught, Queen Victoria's third son.

He held the position of oldest ever male member of the BRF until last month.

[Artemisia]

I think nascarlucy meant living male members of the Royal Family, although I could be mistaken.
These are the oldest surviving members of the British Royal Family, including extended family:

- The Duke of Edinburgh (born 1921)
- George Lascelles, The Earl of Harewood (born 1923)
- James Carnegie, The Duke of Fife (born 1929)
- The Duke of Kent (born 1935)
- Prince Michael of Kent (born 1942)
- The Duke of Gloucester (born 1944)
- The Prince of Wales (born 1948)

[Ish]

Originally Posted by Artemisia

I think nascarlucy meant living male members of the Royal Family, although I could be mistaken.
These are the oldest surviving members of the British Royal Family, including extended family:

- The Duke of Edinburgh (born 1921)
- George Lascelles, The Earl of Harewood (born 1923)
- James Carnegie, The Duke of Fife (born 1929)
- The Duke of Kent (born 1935)
- Prince Michael of Kent (born 1942)
- The Duke of Gloucester (born 1944)
- The Prince of Wales (born 1948)

Don't forget HM, who is older than all of those listed except the DoE and Earl of Harewood.

[Artemisia]

Originally Posted by Ish

Don't forget HM, who use older than all of those listed except the DoE and Earl of Harewood.

I listed only living male members of the British Royal Family. If we count female ones as well, then the list would look like this:

- The Duke of Edinburgh (born 1921)
- Elizabeth II (born 1926)
- James Carnegie, The Duke of Fife (born 1929)
- The Duke of Kent (born 1935)
- Princess Alexandra, The Honourable lady Ogilvy (born 1936)
- Prince Michael of Kent (born 1942)
- The Duke of Gloucester (born 1944)
- The Prince of Wales (born 1948)
- The Princess Royal (born 1950)
- David Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles (born 1950)

[Ish]

Originally Posted by Artemisia

I listed only living male members of the British Royal Family. If we count female ones as well, then the list would look like this:

- The Duke of Edinburgh (born 1921)
- George Lascelles, The Earl of Harewood (born 1923)
- Elizabeth II (born 1926)
- James Carnegie, The Duke of Fife (born 1929)
- The Duke of Kent (born 1935)
- Princess Alexandra, The Honourable lady Ogilvy (born 1936)
- Prince Michael of Kent (born 1942)
- The Duke of Gloucester (born 1944)
- The Prince of Wales (born 1948)
- The Princess Royal (born 1950)
- David Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles (born 1950)

I totally had a moment where I didn't read last the Duke of Kent and didn't realize that you were just doing the men.

Thanks for the correction and info, Artemisia! Your posts are always so knowledgeable.

[Artemisia]

The number of times I have done exactly the same!

[NGalitzine]

Well George Harewood is dead so you can take him off your list. David is now Earl of Harewood.

[Ish]

What's the list if we include members of the family who married in?

[GracieGiraffe]

Who was the oldest British royal ever? I think Alice, Duchess of Gloucester lived slightly longer than the Queen Mother.

[Ish]

Originally Posted by GracieGiraffe

Who was the oldest British royal ever? I think Alice, Duchess of Gloucester lived slightly longer than the Queen Mother.

Alice, Duchess of Gloucester lived to be 102, so she was older than the Queen Mother, who died a few months before her 102 birthday. I would think that the Duchess would be the oldest living British royal ever.

Who was the oldest living British royal to be born into the family (as opposed to married in, as was the case with both the Duchess and the Queen Mother)?

[Artemisia]

Originally Posted by GracieGiraffe

Who was the oldest British royal ever? I think Alice, Duchess of Gloucester lived slightly longer than the Queen Mother.

On 21 August 2003, Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester surpassed the Queen Mother's the oldest member of the British Royal Family in history. She remains one to this day. The second-oldest is Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

Originally Posted by NGalitzine

Well George Harewood is dead so you can take him off your list. David is now Earl of Harewood.

Thanks for that, already corrected.

[GracieGiraffe]

Originally Posted by Ish

Alice, Duchess of Gloucester lived to be 102, so she was older than the Queen Mother, who died a few months before her 102 birthday. I would think that the Duchess would be the oldest living British royal ever.

Who was the oldest living British royal to be born into the family (as opposed to married in, as was the case with both the Duchess and the Queen Mother)?

Right off the top of my head I'd go with Princess Beatrice of Battenberg, who lived to be about 90 - or perhaps Princess Louise, another of Victoria's daughters.

[GracieGiraffe]

From Wikipedia

Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, VA, GCStJ, GCVO, GBE (Alice Mary Victoria Augusta Pauline; née Princess Alice of Albany; 25 February 1883 – 3 January 1981)

She was the daughter of Prince Leopold, youngest son of Victoria. He was a hemophiliac and died young.

[Artemisia]

Originally Posted by Ish

What's the list if we include members of the family who married in?

The complete list (to the best of my knowledge), including royals by marriage and former members (divorced spouses):
- The Duke of Edinburgh (born 1921)
- Elizabeth II (born 1926)
- Patricia Lascelles, Countess of Harewood (born 1926) *
- Marion Stein *
- James Carnegie, The Duke of Fife (born 1929)
- Katharine, Duchess of Kent (born 1933)
- Caroline, Lady Worsley (born 1934) **
- The Duke of Kent (born 1935)
- Princess Alexandra, The Honourable lady Ogilvy (born 1936)
- Prince Michael of Kent (born 1942)
- The Duke of Gloucester (born 1944)
- Princess Michael of Kent (born 1944)
- The Duchess of Gloucester (born 1946)
- The Duchess of Cornwall (born 1947)
- Margaret Rosalind Messenger (born 1948) ***
- Mark Phillips (born 1948) ****
- The Prince of Wales (born 1948)
- The Princess Royal (born 1950)
- David Lascelles, Earl of Harewood (born 1950)


* Widow of the late Earl of Harewood
* Former wife of the Earl of Harewood
** The former wife of the Duke of Fife
*** The former wife of the current Earl of Harewood
*** The former husband of the Princess Royal

[Artemisia]

Originally Posted by Ish

Who was the oldest living British royal to be born into the family (as opposed to married in, as was the case with both the Duchess and the Queen Mother)?

I think it depends on your definition of a member of the family. Do you mean only Royal Lightnesses and Princes and Princesses? Or untitled descendants of royals as well? And the degree of relation matters too. For instance, Prince Philip could be considered a member of the British Royal Family in his own right based on his descent from Queen Victoria.

The longest-lived Princess of royal blood of the British Royal Family was Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (not to confuse with Princess Alice, The Duchess of Gloucester who is the longest living British Royal ever: she was not, however, a princess by birth).

[Ish]

I would say, as a basis to start, titled descendants of Queen Victoria, since that seems to have been the basis upon which you did the original list of oldest current living Royals (I assume, based on the inclusion of Prince Philip but not other spouses).

I can be a bit of a geek about research type stuff, so I might later on expand such a list to include non-titled descendants, or to go back further and look at descendants of Electress Sophia of Hanover, since it's through her that the current line of succession descends. But both expansions would be owing to my enjoyment of research, and neither of which I'll undertake at this moment owing to the limitations of my mobile device.

[Artemisia]

Taking as a basis titled royals descended from Queen Victoria, the oldest surviving members of the Royal Family would be:
- Princess Alice Of Albany, Countess of Athlone (born 1883, died 1981)
- Count Carl Johan Bernadotte af Wisborg (born 1916, died 2012)
- Count Sigvard Bernadotte af Wisborg (born 1907, died 2002)
- Lady Katherine Brandram (born 1913, died 2007)
- Infanta Dona Beatriz (born 1909, died 2002)
- Prince Wolfgang of Hesse (born 1896, died 1989)
- Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh (born 1921)
- Princess Louise, The Duchess of Argyll (born 1848, died 1939)
- Prince Arthur, The Duke of Connaught (born 1850, died 1942)
- King Michael of Romania (born 1921)

[Ish]

Artemisia, I don't know how to stress this enough, but you are awesome, and have made my not-so-inner geek smile.

[An Ard Ri]

The King of Spain's maternal aunt in law,Infanta Alicia, Dowager Duchess of Calabria,Countess of Caserta turned 95 before Christmas last year,HRH must be one of Europe's oldest royals,

[Artemisia]

Originally Posted by An Ard Ri

The King of Spain's maternal aunt in law,Infanta Alicia, Dowager Duchess of Calabria,Countess of Caserta turned 95 before Christmas last year,HRH must be one of Europe's oldest royals,

The Infanta is the oldest living member of the (extended) Spanish Royal Family. In fact, I believe she is the oldest-lived Spanish Infanta (by marriage or birth) ever.