Follow us
6 July 2026

22 children, 16 years pregnant: inside Britain’s largest family

Sue and Noel Radford, from Kendal in the Lake District, are officially Britain’s largest family after welcoming their 22nd child. Sue, now 48, has spent a cumulative 16 and a half years of her life pregnant — and despite being done with biological children, she says adoption or fostering remains firmly on the table.

En bref

  • Sue Radford has given birth to 22 children, aged 3 to 34
  • The family spends around £450 on groceries every week
  • Their TV show ’22 Kids & Counting’ is now in its fourth season

35 years together, 22 children and one devastating loss

Sue and Noel Radford first met as teenagers in Kendal, a town nestled in the Lake District. Their relationship moved quickly: the couple married in 1992, when Sue was just 17, and their first child, Chris, now 34, had already arrived by then.

See the rest on the next page ⬇⬇
Advertisement
Share on Facebook