When Queen Elizabeth II passed away at Balmoral in September 2022, she didn't just leave behind a grieving family and a mountain of floral tributes at Buckingham Palace. She left a record that will likely never be broken in our lifetime. Or maybe ever.
Honestly, it’s hard to wrap your head around 70 years. That is basically a lifetime for most people, spent entirely in the public eye. But while everyone knows Elizabeth II holds the top spot, the real story of the british monarchs longest reign isn't just about her. It’s a weird, competitive, and sometimes tragic list of people who held onto power through world wars, plagues, and total mental breakdowns.
The Unreachable Record of Elizabeth II
Let’s get the big one out of the way. Elizabeth II reigned for 70 years and 214 days. To put that in perspective, she saw 15 different British Prime Ministers come and go. Her first was Winston Churchill, a man born in 1874. Her last was Liz Truss, born in 1975.
People often forget how she even got there. She wasn't born to be Queen. Her uncle, Edward VIII, abdicated because he wanted to marry an American divorcee, Wallis Simpson. That pushed her father, George VI, onto the throne, and suddenly the young "Lilibet" was the heir. She was only 25 when she became Queen while on a trip to Kenya.
One thing most people get wrong is thinking she's the longest-reigning monarch ever. She isn't. She’s the longest-reigning British monarch and the longest-reigning female sovereign in history. However, King Louis XIV of France still holds the absolute world record at 72 years and 110 days. Elizabeth was just two years shy of beating the Sun King.
Victoria: The Grandmother of Europe
Before Elizabeth, the gold standard for longevity was Queen Victoria. She reigned for 63 years and 216 days. For a long time, nobody thought that would be topped.
📖 Related: Finding the Right Words: Quotes About Sons That Actually Mean Something
Victoria became Queen at 18. She was tiny—only about five feet tall—but she oversaw the massive expansion of the British Empire. You've probably heard the phrase "the empire on which the sun never sets." That was her era.
What's kinda wild about Victoria's reign is how it ended in a sort of self-imposed isolation. After her husband, Prince Albert, died in 1861, she wore black for the remaining 40 years of her life. She was the "Widow of Windsor." While the country was modernizing and industrializing at breakneck speed, the woman at the top was frozen in mourning.
She survived seven assassination attempts. People literally shot at her while she was riding in carriages, and she just kept going. It takes a certain kind of stubbornness to stay on the throne that long.
The King Nobody Talks About: George III
When we talk about the british monarchs longest reign, we usually focus on the Queens. But the longest-reigning male monarch was George III. He clocked in at 59 years and 96 days.
Most people know him as the "Mad King" or the guy who lost the American Colonies. If you've seen Hamilton, you probably picture him as a flamboyant guy singing about sending a fully armed battalion to remind you of his love.
👉 See also: Williams Sonoma Deer Park IL: What Most People Get Wrong About This Kitchen Icon
In reality, his reign was pretty tragic toward the end. He suffered from a blood disorder called porphyria (though some modern historians argue it was bipolar disorder). By the end of his life, he was blind, deaf, and living in seclusion at Windsor Castle while his son, the Prince Regent, ran the show.
Even so, he was incredibly popular for much of his reign. He was "Farmer George," a man who loved agriculture and lived a surprisingly simple domestic life compared to the monarchs before him.
The Medieval Marathons
If you go further back, the records get a bit harder to verify with down-to-the-minute accuracy, but we have some serious heavy hitters from the Middle Ages.
- James VI and I: He’s a bit of a special case. He was King of Scotland for 57 years and 246 days, but only King of England for 22 of those. He became King of Scots when he was just 13 months old.
- Henry III: He reigned for 56 years. He took the throne at age nine. Most of his reign was spent arguing with barons and rebuilding Westminster Abbey.
- Edward III: 50 years and 147 days. He’s the guy who started the Hundred Years' War. He was a warrior king who saw the Black Death sweep through England and still managed to keep his crown.
It’s interesting to see that many of these long reigns started when the monarch was a child. If you want to break a record, you basically have to start young and hope your predecessors die early. Sorta morbid, but that’s how the system works.
Why Long Reigns Actually Matter
A long reign provides a weird kind of "national glue." When Elizabeth II was on the throne, she was the only thing that stayed the same while the world turned upside down. She was there before the internet, before the moon landing, and before the Beatles.
✨ Don't miss: Finding the most affordable way to live when everything feels too expensive
There are actual psychological studies on this. People find comfort in the continuity. When a monarch is there for 70 years, they become more than a person; they become a permanent fixture of the landscape, like a mountain or a historic building.
What’s Next for the British Throne?
We are currently in the reign of King Charles III. Because he came to the throne at age 73, he has zero chance of breaking into the top five. He’d have to live to be 133 to beat his mother’s record.
Prince William has a slightly better shot, but even he started his reign later than Elizabeth or Victoria. The reality is, the era of the 60+ year reign might be over for a long while.
If you're interested in diving deeper into the history of the british monarchs longest reign, here is what you should do next:
- Visit the Tower of London: It’s where the Crown Jewels are kept, but more importantly, it houses the history of almost every person on this list.
- Check out the Royal Collection online: They have digitised diaries from Queen Victoria that are honestly fascinating. She was a much more "human" person than the stern portraits suggest.
- Look at your change: If you still use cash, look at the coins in your pocket. You’ll see the transition of history right there in the portraits of the monarchs, though the "old" Elizabeth coins are becoming rarer by the day.
History isn't just dates on a page. It's the story of people trying to hold onto a job they never applied for, for as long as they possibly could.