Mystery of letter which arrived more than 100 years late

The letter was dated 1916 but didn't arrive until 2021

What's the longest you've had to wait for something to arrive in the post?

How about 100 years? Well, one letter has finally reached its destination, more than century after it was originally sent.

The letter is dated February 1916 and arrived at a flat in south London in 2021.

The wait has left people at the Royal Mail postal service scratching their heads.

The envelope the letter came in has a Bath postmark and a 1d stamp which is the equivalent of a 1p stamp.

On that stamp is George V - who was King between 1910 and 1936 and was Queen Elizabeth II's grandfather and King Charles III's great-grandfather.

The letter was opened by Finlay Glen when it arrived at his flat on Hamlet Road in Crystal Palace, London.

He said: "We were obviously pretty surprised and mystified as to how it could have been sat around for more than 100 years."

The letter arrived at the flat of Finlay Glen in Crystal Palace

The letter begins "my dear Katie", and is a message written by a woman to her family friend while she was on holiday in Bath.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: "Incidents like this happen very occasionally, and we are uncertain what happened in this instance.

"We appreciate that people will be intrigued by the history of this letter from 1916, but we have no further information on what might have happened."