Well, the opposite question would be the shortest lived monarch not shortest reigning .
But, to try and answer your question, Edward V would indeed fit the bill on both counts. Just 12 years old when he disappeared, presumed murdered, after a reign of just two months.
Lady Jane Grey is a tricky one. She is often included in the line of English monarchs but is never referred to as 'Queen Jane' but by her birth title, 'Lady Jane'. That signifies ambivalence about her status to me. If she is indeed accepted as a legitimate monarch then her nine days reign would indeed be by far the shortest in British history.
Yes, there seems to be an ambivalence about her legitimacy as a reigning monarch. I took a look at the description of the events surrounding her proclamation and then how events shifted against her. What stands out in my view here was the role of the Privy Council - at first, favoring her but then when opinion and pressure went the other way, then proclaiming Mary Tudor as queen instead. So, was the Privy Council during those centuries of monarchy more significant and legally important than nowadays in a constitutional and ceremonial monarchy? Did the recognition of the Privy Council signify much more than the simple formalities of the modern era?
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