The Daily Beast
British royals survive 30 years longer than their subjects
Tim Graham / Getty In the UK it is customary to receive a personal message from the Queen on your 100th birthday – it is the relative rarity to reach the milestone. Prince Philip was only a few months free and died at the age of 99 years and 10 months on April 9, 2021. The last notable royal death before her was that of the Queen Mother in 2002. She was 101 years old. Reaching such a ripe old age is not uncommon among the British ruling family – in fact, my analysis shows that they are on average 30 years extra compared to their subjects. I looked at the life expectancy of the last six British princes, along with the life expectancy of their spouses and children – a total of 27 royals. What it reveals is a fascinating and well-known story for those of us who study aging and longevity. As a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, I have previously observed exactly the same phenomenon among US presidents – they also tend to live decades longer than the general population they serve. The reigning British princes from Queen Victoria and later lived on average 75 years. And this lifespan will continue to increase with each passing day of Queen Elizabeth II – now 95 years old. Their spouses survived even longer and reached an average age of 83.5 years. If Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, who died of suspected typhoid fever in 1861 at the age of 42, was removed from the comparison, the average life expectancy of the princes’ spouses was 91.7 years. In contrast, the average life expectancy of, according to the figures from the Human Mortality Database, the wider population in the UK for the years in which the princes were born during this period was only 46 years. For example, the typical life expectancy at birth for a woman in the United Kingdom in 1819 was just under 41 years. Queen Victoria, also born in 1819, was 81 when she died. By the time Elizabeth II was born in 1926, the life expectancy of women in the United Kingdom had risen to 62 at birth – the queen had already surpassed it by about 33 years. Such differences in life – with some members of the royal family being twice as old as those expected of the general population – are considered extremely old in aging circles, but not uncommon. Life differences of this magnitude are the result of a combination of genetic as well as social and behavioral influences. No one can live long without first winning the genetic lottery at birth. To maximize the chances of achieving an exceptionally long life – over 85 years old – you need to start by being happy to have long-lived parents. But even for those who are blessed with the gift at birth of the potential for longevity, there is no guarantee that your contemporaries will survive. The next challenge is to avoid behaviors that shorten life. The list is long – it’s much easier to shorten life than to prolong it – but among the best known are smoking, overeating and lack of exercise. And then there is the influence of poverty and privilege. Being born or living in poverty has been shown to be one of the most important factors in shortening life expectancy – and this is perhaps where the royals have the greatest benefit. Further evidence that privilege is an important ingredient in the recipe for extraordinary longevity can be seen in the fact that the children of the last six British princes who died of natural causes lived an average of 69.7 years. This is about 23 years longer than the average age of British nationals during the period. Simply put, British princes and their families live so much longer than their subjects for the same reason that other subgroups of the population around the world live longer than contemporaries born in the same year: privilege over poverty. A well-known study conducted in 2017 in Manchester, England, showed large differences in life expectancy depending on the circumstances in which people lived. Access to higher education and economic status were directly correlated with longer life expectancy, while lower education, income and poverty were linked to shorter lives. In the US, similar studies on life expectancy according to counties, censuses and zip code showed the same phenomenon. In fact, there are several instances of dramatic differences in longevity among people living so close to each other – caused by differences in poverty and privileges. Differences in life expectancy are first defined by genetics, but are then strongly mediated. through education, income, health care, clean water, food, indoor living and working environments, and the overall consequences of high or low socio-economic status. The long life of Prince Philip is a reason to celebrate the advancement of medical science to be able to keep people alive longer. But it is in part the result of a privilege denied to many people and a reminder that mankind still has a long way to go to compare the chances of a long life. Jay Olshansky is Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily membership of the beast: Beast Inside goes deeper into the stories that matter to you. Learn more.