The Classic Coincidence Involving King Edward VII

Here's one of the classic coincidence or synchronicity story examples. It involves the British King Edward VII.

Edward VII liked to think of himself as a bit of a sportsman and especially indulged in fox hunting with horses and dogs - something of which I personally disapprove. Before he became King, and was the Prince of Wales, he was seen on various hunts and often with an actor called Edward A Sothern.

To show his friendship with Sothern the Prince, as he was then, gave him a gold matchbox to affix to his watch chain. The actor always carried this with him.

One day when Sothern was out on a hunt he was unsaddled from his horse and the gold box was lost, despite several searches.

As he couldn't find the matchbox he had a duplicate made, at his own expense. This he later gave to his son, Lytton Sothern, who was also an actor.

Lytton later gave this duplicate box to a friend called Labertouche. Hope you are still following this!

Many years later, Lytton's brother George, who also enjoyed fox hunting, was on a hunt. Afterwards the farmer, whose land he had ridden across, presented George with the gold matchbox - he had found it that very morning when plowing a field. This was some 20 years after it had been lost.

George thought recovering the box in this way was very striking - and not just because it was a matchbox! So much so he wrote to his brother Lytton and another brother about the incident - who happened to be travelling in America at the time.

When the letter from George was being read the actors were travelling on a train with another actor, Arthur Lawrence. They repeated the story to Lawrence.

To their astonishment Lawrence got out his a watch chain in front of them and on it was the duplicate golden matchbox given to him by Mr. Labertouche.

Okay, a bit of an involved story but quite a coincidence.

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