The King and His Double

This story from 1900 reminds me of some of the synchronistic parallels involving identical twins. Even though the two men – King Umberto I of Italy and the owner of a small restaurant in Monza – weren’t related, they looked like twins and their lives held numerous astonishing parallels. This story was originally published in Ripley’s Ghost Stories and Plays. So back in time we go…

Trish
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July 28, 1900

King Umberto I of Italy and his aide-de-camp, a general, arrived in the town of Monza, where the king was supposed to present prizes at an athletic competition the next day. Since even kings get hungry,he and his general went to dinner at a small restaurant in town that evening.

As the owner of the restaurant took their order, the king noticed that he and the man looked like twins – their faces, their physiques. When he mentioned it, he and the owner started talking and discovered some intriguing parallels in their lives. Both men were born on March 14, 1844, in the same town, and had the same first name – Umberto. Both had been married on April 22, 1868, to a woman named Margherita. Both had a son named Vittorio. On the day of the king’s coronation, the other Umberto had opened his restaurant.

It gets even stranger. The king, astonished by these parallels, asked the restaurant owner how it was that their paths had never crossed before. But Umberto the restaurant guy told the king that their paths had crossed twice, when they were both decorated for bravery – in 1866 and again in 1870.

With this revelation, Umberto the common man left to wait on his other patrons and the king told the general to be sure to invite his double to the games. He intended to make him a Cavaliere of the Crown of Italy. But the next day, when the king asked for his double, he was informed that the man had been killed in a shooting accident. Shocked, the king told the general to find out about funeral arrangements. At that very moment, an assassin fired three shots. The first shot missed the king, but the next two tore through his heart, killing him instantly.
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The web site Abovetopsecret.com also includes this story with even more detail. The writer concludes that the two Umbertos were actually twins.

Rob
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“Twins being a major problem in royal lineages, for obvious reasons, one of the boys was given away immediately after birth, but was also called Umberto, either by chance (by the family who adopted him) – or even on purpose, to secure a credible ‘spare.’ That would explain everything, even the subsequent ‘coincidences.’ (Many studies of the lives of identical twins show that their spouses are often very similar in appearance, share the same name etc. Twins often also die on the same day – although in this case even the death could be explained in a more sinister and less coincidental light…)”