How Queen Elizabeth II’s Long Life Illustrates ‘the Greatest Story Ever Told’

In 1651, Thomas Hobbes famously characterized life as solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."

Royal life was, indeed, short. From Henry II (born 1133) until George I (born 1660), monarchs' average lifespan was fifty years. But when including childhood mortality of royals, average life expectancy was hardly better than that of commoners tilling fields in Sussex-the high 20s to low 30s-with little to no improvement over these years.