See photos of the 27 TALLEST royals of all time and the photos that prove how towering they really are

Inheriting the tall genes of her father, King Felipe VI, his youngest daughter towers over her older sister, Princess Leonor. While Infanta Sofía of Spain stands at around 5'11", Princess Leonor is approximately 5'9". Given that their father is over six feet tall, Sofía is notably tall – and that is without wearing heels.

Standing proud at 5'7, the shortest of our tall royals is the Belgian queen, Mathilde. She has been by her husband King Philippe's side since their marriage in 1999, and queen since King Philippe's accession to the throne on 21 July 2013.

When the future King is almost as tall as his mum at 13 years old, it is certainly a sign that he is destined for great heights.

Prince George’s appearance at the Easter Day Service in St George’s Chapel, Windsor, startled royal fans with his sudden growth spurt. Despite Princess Catherine wearing some rather high Ralph Lauren heels, George was nearly as tall as her and towered over his younger siblings.

One can only imagine how tall he will be by the time he (maybe) becomes King. Given that Prince William is over 6ft, the height gene clearly runs in the royal blood and I wonder if George will catch up to his dad as well. 

Just two inches shorter than her husband of 21 years, Queen Camillia is 5'8. During the royal coronation in 2023 she wore Queen Mary's crown, an impressive (and heavy!) piece of regal ornamentation that added around ten inches to her height.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's ex-wife Sarah also joins the 5'8 (1.72m in metric terms) club, 11 centimetres smaller than her former husband. By contrast both Sarah's children, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, are not as tall as either of their parents, standing at 1.62m and 1.65m respectively.

Our final royal in the 5'8 category is Monaco's Princess Charlene. The physique of the former Olympic swimmer came in useful when competing at national and international competitions before she met her husband Prince Albert. She won silver at the Commonwealth Games and swam for her home nation of South Africa in the Sydney Olympic Games.

She stands just four centimetres shorter than Prince Albert.

While standing next to her soaring husband Princess Kate may not appear all too tall, she is in fact one of the taller modern royal women at 1.75m. This has no doubt contributed to her tennis and hockey-playing prowess, both sports which reward longer levers!

Both elegant and tall, the late Princess Diana stood on par with her former husband, King Charles, at around 1.78m. Known for her enduring sense of style, the Princess of Wales made sure to wear her height well.

Reportedly her tall frame as a young girl contributed to the dashing of her hopes of becoming a ballerina.

While the average height for a woman in the Netherlands might be 1.7m, Queen Maxima stands a whole eight centimetres taller at 1.78m.

The statuesque queen is well known for draping her tall figure in the latest fashions, whether attending galas or on official engagements.

Another impressively tall queen is Margrethe, former ruler of Denmark prior to her abdication in 2024. At 1.82cm, she is the tallest living royal woman on our list, only a centimetre shorter than her son, King Frederick X.

An athletic ruler, Queen Mary reigned from 1689 to 1694 and was said to walk between her palaces at Whitehall and Kensington to keep fit. She stood at around 1.8m, nearly a head taller than her husband, William III, who was 5'6.

In a time when the average height of a woman was far closer to the 5' mark, and a woman of 5'4 would have been deemed tall, Mary certainly towered over her peers.

A larger-than-life figure in both reality and history, the famed Queen of Scots may have been a head shorter by the end of her life, but when living she was an impressive 1.8m tall, also unusual for a woman of her era.

The late Duke of Edinburgh is the first on our list to reach the coveted six-foot spot. While two of his sons, Prince Edward and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, matched him in height, Prince Philip could always be sure to dwarf his wife, the late Queen Elizabeth II, who stood at a more modest 5'3.

Equalling Prince Philip at a height of 1.83m, Denmark's new king is up there with the tallest living European royals. His wife, Queen Mary, is somewhat smaller in stature, at 5'6.

A royal whose wife, Queen Maxima, also features on this list, King Willem-Alexander also earns his place at 1.9m tall. Dutch men are among the tallest in the world, averaging 1.82m.

Edward I reigned from 1272 until 1307 and was also known as 'Edward Longshanks' or 'the Hammer of the Scots', standing at a respectable height of 188cm, which was highly unusual for the time.

The Merry Monarch, Charles II, ruled from 1630 to 1685. When he was four months old, his mother complained he looked like he was one year old. A prodigiously early developer, aged 12 Charles was already 6ft 2 and fighting in battles

Following in the footsteps of his tall grandfather and uncles, Prince Harry's 1.86m stature is not to be sniffed at. Genetics undoubtedly come to play a big part in height, as Harry's mother Diana, Princess of Wales, was also tall.

Best remembered as an imposing figure from the Hans Holbein portrait, Tudor monarch Henry VIII was an impressive height for his era at 1.88m.

Athletic in his younger years, an appetite for meat and ale as well as a painful leg injury meant he steadily gained weight in his older years. At death, he weighed nearly 400 pounds and had a 54-inch waist. 

Born a princess of Sweden, Louise married the future King Frederick VIII of Denmark and became a Danish queen for six years until she was widowed in 1912.

Contemporary newspapers described her as standing at 6'3, and that the new queen was worth a reported sum of $30,000,000 when she ascended the throne in 1906.

If William accedes to the throne,  he will become the first British monarch in 300 years to be over six feet. He will also hold the accolade of second-tallest measured monarch in British history.

Coming in at an impressive 6'3, and clinching the spot of tallest female monarch on our list, is Queen Salote of Tonga. With heels, crown and full royal regalia, Queen Salote stood at an imposing 7'.

Such was the impression she left on Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Harry delivered a personal message from the late monarch when he visited the nation in 2018: "To this day, I remember with fondness Queen Salote's attendance at my own coronation, while Prince Philip and I have cherished memories from our three wonderful visits to your country in 1953, 1970 and 1977."

The tallest British monarch was Edward IV at 6'4 (194cm). When suited and booted in armour, the King would have stood at roughly 6'7. Edward ruled for nearly 22 years from 1461 to 1483, with a brief gap in 1470 when he was deposed for six months.

Heading the height list for rulers still with us is Spain's King Felipe, who almost makes it into the 2m club at 1.97m as Europe's tallest living monarch. He towers over his wife, Queen Letizia, who measures a slightly more modest 1.68m.

While we cannot be sure of the exact dimensions of the famed crusader king, if 1.96m is anywhere near accurate, he was very tall for the time period indeed. His body was split up after his death from a crossbow bolt in 1199: his heart taken to Rouen Cathedral and the rest laid to rest in Fontevraud Abbey.

Tipping over the 2m mark is King Christian X of Denmark, who reigned between 1912 and 1947. At  2.01m, the giant monarch was best known for his resistance in World War Two when the Nazis occupied Denmark. He spoke out against them and was imprisoned until the end of the war. Hopefully the jail cell was capacious enough to handle him.

Standing at an incredible 2.03m, the Russian tsar was a force to be reckoned with. He started his rule aged 10, and is credited with bringing social and political reforms to Russia.

A hulking figure in both history and size, Harald was reported to be over seven and a half feet tall. He fought in his first battle at 15 years old, and travelled the world before meeting his end at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066. His banner, a black raven on a white background, was called 'Land Waster'.