Liz Truss didn't even make it two months into her stint as British prime minister, announcing her resignation Thursday amid economic turmoil in the United Kingdom. That makes her the shortest-serving PM in the nation's history. While most world leaders usually stick it out for far longer than Truss' 45 days, there are some in the record books that rival, and even surpass, Truss in the lack-of-longevity department. The Guardian highlights some of them:
- Prime ministers: Truss' predecessor in the "we hardly knew ye, PM" department was Tory statesman George Canning, who held the office for just 119 days before he died of tuberculosis on Aug. 8, 1827.
- US presidents: The honor here goes to William Henry Harrison, who died of pneumonia on April 4, 1841, just 31 days after his inauguration. Some speculate that his lack of appropriate outdoor attire during his inaugural address may have contributed to him getting sick.
- Other presidents: Pedro Lascurain has Harrison beat, lasting just 45 minutes or so in the Mexican presidency. Lascurain was effectively just a placeholder during a military coup on Feb. 19, 1913, making way for Gen. Victoriano Huerta after less than an hour.
- Emperors: Michael II of Russia put in a whole 18 hours in mid-March 1917 after the abdication of his brother, Czar Nicholas II, but he was quickly replaced by a provisional government that ended the country's czarist regime.
- UK monarchs: Elizabeth II may have held the honor of Britain's longest reign, but Tragic Lady Jane Grey appears at the other end of the spectrum—the 16-year-old queen lasted just nine days before being deposed in 1553.
- Other monarchs: A world record of just 20 minutes on the throne is shared by France's King Louis XIX, who quickly abdicated in 1830 right after his father did the same, and Portugal's Luis II, who died not a half-hour after he'd assumed the crown from his father, who was fatally wounded in the same attack on Feb. 1, 1908.
- "Some food in my freezer": To put Truss' time in office in context, this decade-old Reddit post outlines things in general that last longer than 45 days. And on Twitter, Anthony Scaramucci—who infamously lasted just 11 days as the White House communications director under former President Donald Trump—posted, "Liz Truss lasted 4.1 Scaramuccis."
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