Um caso Rarissimo

Maria e Lucy têm 18 anos e as imagens destas irmãs gémeas britânicas tornaram-se virais. Tudo porque, apesar de terem partilhado o mesmo ventre, não poderiam ter características físicas mais opostas.

Lucy é uma ruiva de olhos azuis. Maria é negra e tem cabelos encaracolados. Nasceram em 1997, filhas de um pai inglês e uma mãe de origem jamaicana.

Ter um irmão de uma outra raça não é impossível – nem raro. Mas o caso muda de figura quando se fala de gémeos. Lucy e Maria são tão diferentes que têm de mostrar frequentemente os seus documentos para provar que são sequer relacionadas.

As diferenças não se limitam à pele. Lucy, conta o New York Post, é tímida, reservada e estuda Belas Artes. Maria, uma negra extrovertida e assertiva, está a estudar para ser advogada.

No entanto, e isso é que interessa, as duas jovens mulheres garantem que se dão muito bem e que têm muito orgulho em dizer aos amigos e colegas que têm uma irmã gémea de outra raça.

The black and white twins born to mixed race parents

Lucy and Maria AylmerPhoto: Gary Roberts Photography

Twin sisters, one of which was born white, the other black, have revealed they have had to produce their birth certificates to friends in order to prove that they are in fact related.

Due to a quirk of their mixed-race parentage, one has straight ginger hair, a fair complexion and blue eyes. The other has far darker skin and her eyes are brown.

Amazingly they are twins - even though Lucy is white and Maria is black. Credit: Gary Roberts Photography

Lucy and Maria Aylmer from Gloucester say when they walk down the street they are mistaken for being just friends.

But amazingly they are twins - even though Lucy is white and Maria is black.

Lucy studies art and design at Gloucester College whilst Maria studies Law and Psychology at Cheltenham College.

The twins have three older siblings, George, 23, Chynna, 22, and Jordan, 21, who all have a mixed race skin colour.

The family pictured together when the girls were much younger Credit: Gary Roberts Photography

No-one ever believes we are twins because I am white and Maria is black. Even when we dress alike, we still don’t even look like sisters, let alone twins. When we’ve met friends for the first time they never believe we are twins and they have even made us produce our birth certificates to prove that we are actually twins."

– LUCY AYLMER

The twins were born in January 1997 after Miss Douglas gave birth naturally. She was shocked when she was handed the twins as nothing had shown up on the scans.

It was such a shock for her because obviously things like skin colour don’t show up on scans before birth. So she had no idea that we were so different. When the midwife handed us both to her she was just speechless."

– LUCY AYLMER

The twin's mother was shocked when they were born as nothing had shown up on the scans Credit: Gary Roberts Photography

Now we have grown older, even though we still look so different, the bond between us is much stronger. Now we are proud of the fact that we are each other’s twin sister. Maria loves telling people at college that she has a white twin - and I’m very proud of having a black twin."

– LUCY AYLMER

Last updated Thu 29 Oct 2015