Records of heads of state


throughout the world and at all periods of history may be ranked according to characteristics such as length of time holding that position; age of accession or death; or physical attributes. In this way world records in these characteristics may be identified, although the historical basis for such claims is frequently uncertain.

Longest-reigning/serving

Monarch

Male monarch

Longest-reigning male monarch
The longest-reigning male monarch ever known is disputed between the following candidates:
The longest undisputed reigning male monarch known is Sobhuza II, who ruled the Kingdom of Swaziland under the title of Paramount Chief of Swaziland and later King of Swaziland. He ruled for 82 years, 8 months, 11 days.
Longest current reigning male monarch
The longest current reigning male monarch is Hassanal Bolkiah, who is the Sultan and Yang di-Pertuan of Brunei, an absolute monarch of Brunei Darussalam.
The longest current reigning constitutional male monarch is Carl XVI Gustaf, who is the King of Sweden.

Female monarch

Longest-reigning female monarch
The longest reigning female monarch ever is Elizabeth II, who is currently the Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms, and is a constitutional monarch. She has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, since 6 February 1952, but all of the other countries she is at present queen were not independent at the time of her accession.

Republic

Longest-serving male non-royal head of state

The longest-serving non-royal head of state in the 20th and 21st centuries was Fidel Castro, who held the titles of Prime Minister of Cuba, First Secretary of the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the United Party for the Socialist Revolution of Cuba, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, President of the Council of State, and President of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba. He served overall for 52 years, 2 months, and 3 days but was only head of state per se from 1976 to 2008.

President

Male president
Longest-serving and longest current serving male president
The longest-serving and longest current serving male president ever is Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who is currently the President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, who seized power in a coup in 1979.
Female president
Longest-serving female non-royal head of state and longest serving female
The longest serving female non-royal head of state and longest serving female president ever was Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, who was the President of the Republic of Iceland. She served for 16 years.

Shortest serving

The shortest serving monarch of all time is believed to be Louis XIX of France. After his father's abdication during the July Revolution on August 2, 1830, he ascended to the throne, but abdicated around 19 minutes later. This reign is disputed, as some historians believe this reign is too short to be valid. The next contender is the unnamed daughter of Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei who was appointed by her grandmother, Empress Dowager Hu. She reigned for a matter of hours until being replaced by Yuan Zhou.
Mexican politician Pedro Lascuráin served as the 34th President of Mexico for a short period of time ranging from 15 to 56 minutes before he quit in a coup d'état in order to make General Victoriano Huerta the next President.

Ruling houses

Oldest

Officially, the current Emperor of Japan, Naruhito is the 126th in line from the first emperor, Jimmu, who is variously believed to have reigned in the 1st or 7th century BC. The earliest documentary evidence is only for the 29th emperor, Kinmei ; however, this is sufficient such that even the most conservative of estimates still places the Japanese imperial family as among the oldest lines in the world today.
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom is well-documented as being descended from Arnulf of Metz, forefather of Charlemagne, thus representing a lineage of 47 generations.
The Ottoman Empire lasted for 36 sultans in 21 generations, from Osman I to Mehmed VI for 623 years.

Post-nominal numbers

The highest post-nominal number representing a member of a royal house is 75, used by Count Heinrich LXXV Reuss. All male members of the branch were named Heinrich, and were successively numbered from 1 upwards, from the beginning of each century.

Physical attributes

Heaviest

The heaviest monarch is believed to have been Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, King of Tonga from 1965 to 2006 who at his peak in 1976 was measured as, though he subsequently lost around 40% of his weight.

Shortest

of Mexico was reportedly the shortest world leader, standing at.

Age

Youngest

According to legends, the youngest ruler is Shapur II who was crowned in utero when a crown was placed on the belly of Hormizd II's wife after Hormizd II died. However, according to Shapur Shahbazi, it is unlikely. Other claims as the youngest ruler include John I of France and Alfonso XIII of Spain who were both crowned on the day of their birth.