On the eve of King Charles III’s Coronation, the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC) considers the longevity of the Royal Family and how this compares with that of others.

The King will be spared many risks to his life compared to the experiences of some of his historical predecessors. However, the life expectancy of members of the Royal Family in the 21^st Century is related to factors which impact the longevity of everyone in the UK alive today. Living longer is linked to when you were born, your genetics, where you live, your level of income, what you eat, how much you smoke or drink alcohol, and how much you exercise.

According to the ONS life expectancy calculator a man aged 74 today would be expected to live to 87. But King Charles has no money worries, keeps physically active and socially connected and has excellent access to healthcare and advice. Indeed, research into the longevity of the Royal Family by the ILC, the UK’s leading think tank on longevity, suggests that he could live well into his nineties, possibly keeping William waiting until he is in his late 50s before he ascends to the throne. But, given his royal status, likely medical advances and barring any accident, disease or constitutional change, William can still expect to reign for at least 30 years, making it sometime in the 2070s before George may be crowned King George VII.

However, as a man born in 1948, and now aged 74, King Charles’ life expectancy could be very different. What if, instead of being head of the Royal Family, King Charles had been born in Zimbabwe or Blackpool? The table below sets out some parallel scenarios.

David Sinclair, Chief Executive at the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC), commented:

“It is to be celebrated that a male child born today can expect to live to the age of 88 and a girl to the age of 90. When Queen Elizabeth was crowned, life expectancy was 79 for men and 83 for women. Despite this progress, significant disparities persist in the UK and globally in how long an individual can expect to live and how much of their life will be spent in good health.

“While who our parents are and where and when we are born are not factors in our control, we can make choices which can help keep us healthier for longer. Getting regular exercise, eating healthily, avoiding smoking and taking up offers for vaccines and health checks are all things we can do to add years to our lives. We should also expect our elected leaders at national and local levels to make sure that making these choices are as easy and accessible as possible and by investing at least 6% of health budgets on prevention.”

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Contact

Contact press@ilcuk.org.uk or +44 (0) 7736 124 096 for press queries. Spokespeople are available for interview.

Notes

Professor Les Mayhew’s research for the ILC and Bayes Business School The longevity of the Royal Family: A tale of two dynasties – ILCUK (December 2021) compares the longevity of the Queen and The Royal Family with that of the general UK population. The research also compared the Windsors with another preeminent family of the twentieth century, sometimes feted as ‘US royalty’ – the Kennedys.

The ILC’s Healthy Ageing and Prevention Index ranks 121 countries across six key metrics: life span, health span, work span, income, environmental performance, and happiness. It finds that there are significant health and wealth inequalities between countries at the top and bottom of the Index:

• Only 1.1% of the world’s population rank in the top ten and just over a quarter rank in the top 50. This demonstrates significant inequality, whereby a relatively small proportion of the global population benefits from better health, wealth and societal conditions.
• There is a 24-year gap in life span (life expectancy) between the top 10 and bottom 10 countries.
• There is a 21-year gap in health span (healthy life expectancy) between the top and bottom 10 countries.

Further analysis by ILC, the leading think tank on longevity, finds that countries that are healthier also have higher per capita incomes and those with higher environmental performance scores are also happier.

The purpose of the Index is to hold governments to account on healthy ageing and their level of investment in prevention, as well as to identify areas for improvement and inform policy:

• The US, China, and India have the largest number of older adults across their populations and could significantly benefit from investing in healthy ageing and disease prevention but are ranked 31, 50, 102 respectively.
• If the UK’s target of five extra healthy years by 2035 was met in 2019, it would be the best performing country jumping 27 places from its current 28th position on the health span metric, ahead of Japan, the healthiest country on the Index. But unless the UK increases its current spend on prevention from 4.8% of the overall health budget to 6% this is an ambition that feels increasing unlikely as the target date approaches.

[1] Life Expectancy of Zimbabwe 1950-2023 & Future Projections | database.earth

[2] Life Expectancy (blackpooljsna.org.uk)

[3] Introducing the Healthy Ageing and Prevention Index – ILCUK

[4] Effects of smoking | Health Information | Bupa UK

[5] ONS Longitudinal Study (LS) based estimates of Life Expectancy (LE) by the National Statistics Socioeconomic Classification (NS-SEC): England and Wales – Office for National Statistics

[6] https://ilcuk.org.uk/marathon-or-sprint