Political leadership across the life span: Chronological versus career age in the British monarchy

Although there exists extensive empirical literature on the relationship between age and outstanding achievement, very few investigations have examined the impact of age on the performance of political leaders. Taking advantage of certain methodological assets, the current study examined the British monarchs who governed between 1066 and 1811. After dividing this period into 110 5-year periods, the leadership performance was assessed on 17 criteria. Using a multivariate multiple regression analysis, these criteria were regressed on both chronological age and career age (using both linear and quadratic terms), along with five control variables. Although nine performance criteria exhibited no developmental changes, five were a curvilinear function of career age, two were a curvilinear function of chronological age, and one was a curvilinear function of both chronological and career age. The findings suggest that leader performance is determined by several processes that bear distinct relationships with life-span changes.