List of longest-reigning monarchs facts for kids

Louis XIV,
the longest-ruling sovereign monarch who is verifiable by exact date.

Elizabeth II,
the longest-reigning incumbent monarch and the longest-reigning female monarch in history.

This is a list of the longest-reigning monarchs of all time, detailing the monarchs and lifelong leaders who have reigned the longest in world history, sorted by length of reign. Currently reigning monarchs are highlighted in green.

Monarchs of sovereign states with verifiable reigns by exact date

Twenty-five longest-reigning monarchs of states that were internationally recognized as sovereign for most or all of their reign.

     Incumbent

No.	Name	State	Reign		Duration
			From	To	(days)	(years, days)
1	Louis XIV	France	14 May 1643	1 September 1715	26,407	72 years, 110 days
2	Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX)	Thailand	9 June 1946	13 October 2016	25,694	70 years, 126 days
3	Johann II	Liechtenstein	12 November 1858	11 February 1929	25,658	70 years, 91 days
4	Elizabeth II	Australia  Canada  New Zealand  United Kingdom	6 February 1952	Incumbent	26,376	72 years, 78 days
5	Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal I	Palenque	29 July 615	31 August 683	24,870	68 years, 33 days
6	Franz Joseph I	Austria (1848–1867)  Austria-Hungary (1867–1916)	2 December 1848	21 November 1916	24,825	67 years, 355 days
7	Ferdinand III	Sicily (1759–1816)  Two Sicilies (1816–1825)	6 October 1759	4 January 1825	23,831	65 years, 90 days
8	Victoria	United Kingdom	20 June 1837	22 January 1901	23,226	63 years, 216 days
9	James I	Aragon	12 September 1213	27 July 1276	22,964	62 years, 319 days
10	Hirohito (Emperor Shōwa)	Empire of Japan (1926–1947)  Japan (1947–1989)	25 December 1926	7 January 1989	22,659	62 years, 13 days
11	Kangxi Emperor	China (Qing dynasty)	5 February 1661	20 December 1722	22,597	61 years, 318 days
12	Qianlong Emperor	China (Qing dynasty)	18 October 1735	9 February 1796	22,029	60 years, 114 days
13	Christian IV	Denmark–Norway	4 April 1588	28 February 1648	21,879	59 years, 330 days
14	Elizabeth II	Jamaica	6 August 1962	Incumbent	22,542	61 years, 262 days
15	George III	Great Britain (1760–1801)  Ireland (1760–1801)  United Kingdom (1801–1820)  Electorate of Hanover (1760–1814)  Kingdom of Hanover (1814–1820)	25 October 1760	29 January 1820	21,644	59 years, 96 days
16	Honoré III	Monaco	7 November 1733	19 January 1793	21,623	59 years, 73 days
17	Louis XV	France	1 September 1715	10 May 1774	21,436	58 years, 251 days
18	Pedro II	Brazil	7 April 1831	15 November 1889	21,407	58 years, 222 days
19	Nicholas I	Principality of Montenegro (1860–1910)  Kingdom of Montenegro (1910–1918)	13 August 1860	26 November 1918	21,288	58 years, 105 days
20	Wilhelmina	Netherlands	23 November 1890	4 September 1948	21,104	57 years, 286 days
21	James VI	Scotland	24 July 1567	27 March 1625	21,066	57 years, 246 days
22	Conrad I	Burgundy	11 July 937	19 October 993	20,554	56 years, 100 days
23	Alfonso VIII	Castile	31 August 1158	5 October 1214	20,489	56 years, 35 days
24	Henry III	England	28 October 1216	16 November 1272	20,473	56 years, 19 days
25	Rainier III	Monaco	9 May 1949	6 April 2005	20,421	55 years, 332 days
Updated daily according to UTC.

Monarchs of dependent or constituent states with verifiable reigns by exact date

Sobhuza II, the longest-reigning verifiable monarch ever known.

The table below contains monarchs of states that were not internationally sovereign for most of their reign.

"(HRE)" indicates a semi-sovereign state within the Holy Roman Empire and a reign that concluded before the dissolution of the Empire in 1806. "(HRE*)" indicates a reign that began when the state was within the Empire and continued after its dissolution.

Monarchs whose exact dates of rule are unknown

These monarchs are grouped according to length of reign by year in whole numbers. Within each year-grouping, they appear in historical order. In a given year, there may have been a wide array of actual reign lengths based on days. Thus, this table does not present a precise ranking by length of reign. The list is limited to those that might reasonably be expected to lie within the range of those in the tables above, at minimum 58 years. Bolded states were sovereign.

Japanese legendary emperors, according to the ancient Japanese calendar, reigned for very long terms of 60–70 years each. The longest ruler of the legendary emperors, Emperor Kōan, was claimed to have reigned for about 101 years. These figures are not included in the table because they are regarded as inaccurate by modern scholars. For those see Longevity myths.

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:Monarcas que han reinado por más tiempo para niños

• Lists of state leaders by age