The shortest-reigning monarch was Lady Jane Grey who ruled for 13 days from 6 July until 19 July 1553 (although she was only proclaimed queen by the Lords of the Council on 10 July). Note: Jane's reign is disputed.
The king with the shortest definitively known reign was Edgar the Ætheling who ruled for 2 months, 12 days in 1066 before submitting to William the Conqueror. Some records indicate that Sweyn Forkbeard reigned for only 40 days in 1013-4.
The queen consort with the shortest tenure was Yolande de Dreux, second wife of Alexander III, who was queen for 154 days in 1285 and 1286.
Elizabeth I holds the records for the shortest tenure of an heiress-presumptive (almost 2 years as heir-presumptive to Henry VIII) and the shortest-serving heiress-presumptive (and heir-presumptive of either sex) was Lady Jane Grey's sister, The Lady Herbert of Cardiff (13 days).
The longest single tenure for a male heir-presumptive was Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl, heir-presumptive to James II for 70005000000000000005 years, 7002144000000000000144 days; the shortest total tenure as a male heir-presumptive was George I (54 days).
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She a window flower,
And he a winter breeze.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Here lies a King that ruled as he thought fit
The universal monarchy of wit;
Here lies two flamens, and both those the best,
Apollo’s first, at last the true God’s priest.”
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“My confessions are shameless. I confess, but do not repent. The fact is, my confessions are prompted, not by ethical motives, but intellectual. The confessions are to me the interesting records of a self-investigator.”
—W.N.P. Barbellion (1889–1919)