Charles III’s reign is one of the shortest in British history so far

Queen Mother holds Princess Anne, while husband King George VI watches Prince Charles (later Charles III) in 1951. Picture: Central Press

February 6 is not a good date for the House of Windsor.

As people picked up their newspapers and checked their news apps on Tuesday (AEDT) to read about the King’s cancer, there are probably still a few who remember February 6, 1952 – the day Charles’s grandfather, George VI, died of lung cancer.

As of now, the King has been on the throne for one year, four months and 29 days.

Charles’s diagnosis is the most dramatic moment of a short reign. In fact, he is the fourth-shortest-serving monarch since the Norman Conquest in 1066.

Of the three monarchs who lost their crowns in less than two years, one was executed, one went missing and one quit for love.

Charles is miles ahead of Lady Jane Grey, the unfortunate 16-year-old made queen by Protestants who didn’t want Catholic Mary to rule. She lasted only nine days before her supporters either abandoned her for Bloody Mary or were killed by the pro-Catholic forces. Poor Jane lost her head not long after.

Charles is also ahead of Edward V, who became king in 1483 at the age of 12 for 78 days, but was never crowned. You might remember Edward V best as one of the princes in the tower who may or may not have been killed on the orders of his uncle, Richard III.

King Richard III.

Richard III – the great Shakespearean villain who millions around the world now believe was hard done by – currently outstrips Charles with a reign of two years, one month and 28 days. Richard’s rule came to a bloody end when he was killed in battle at the very end of the War of the Roses.

Then of course there’s Edward VIII, King Charles’s great uncle, who abdicated after 326 days to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson in 1936. Thank heavens Eddie the Eighth’s reign was short. We may never have had Charles or Elizabeth II on the throne at all had he not quit.

Never mind his and Simpson’s connections with the Nazis and their infamous visit to see Hitler.

After those unfortunate souls and Charles’s foolish great uncle, the shortest reigns on record are all longer than three years. So Charles has catching up to do.

The Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson with Adolf Hitler in 1937.

Charles is the oldest monarch to take the crown. But his closest comparisons, in terms of old men assuming the throne, lasted up to a decade before they died.

His great, great grandfather, Edward VII, had to wait till his early 60s to succeed Queen Victoria, lasting more than nine years before he died in 1910.

George IV had a full decade on the throne after his father George III’s death ended a reign of nearly 60 years, which was a long time for George IV to wait, considering his father was incapacitated by his madness and George was king in all but name anyway.

The one record Charles will never beat is his mother’s. If he lived to serve all of Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne, the King would be 143 years old. Now that would be a royal first.