Civic engagement in later life is largely influenced by the experiences and trajectories of participation that people have had across the life course. These life-course features can determine who engages civically in later life, in which activities, and what enablers and barriers to civic engagement are experienced by those who choose to (or abstain from) engage civically. Although all of this seems at first glance to be given, this life-course dimension of late-life civic engagement remains under-theorised in the gerontological literature and has yet to be explored empirically. This chapter introduces some of the angles of investigation associated with the life-course approach to ageing and old age and argues that they all offer us important vantage points from which we can make sense of civic engagement in later life. The chapter summarises the state of affairs of research on civic engagement across the life course and synthesises research evidence from childhood to old age. In doing this, it brings attention to the role that past experiences can play in shaping older adults’ civic behaviours.