The Queen sends little girl's toy monkey back to Australia
In news that will warm the hearts of even the most ardent republican, Queen Elizabeth II, 93, has gone to great lengths to reunite a young Australian girl and her lost soft toy.
Five-year-old Savannah Hart was holidaying with her family in London when she accidentally left Harriet, her preschool class’ toy monkey, behind at Buckingham Palace.
Savannah’s mum Katie only realised Harriet was missing the following day but sadly wasn’t able to track down her daughter’s long-limbed companion.
Back in Adelaide, the good folk at Savannah’s school, Woodside Preschool, took on the challenge of bringing Harriet home, writing a letter to Her Majesty requesting she search the palace for any lost jungle animals.
They made sure to include happy snaps of Harriet, Savannah, her parents and sister to make sure the senior royal knew what to look out for.
To their surprise, the Queen was happy to oblige.
Well, the Royal Collection Trust, which manages visitors to Buckingham Palace, was happy to oblige, responding to Woodside’s plea within a week.
Not only did they locate Harriet safe and sound, but they took photos of the well-travelled monkey at various locations around the palace grounds.
Harriet can be seen enjoying a spot of jam and scones on the lawn as well as cosying up to Rex, a soft toy Corgi, who accompanied her on her long journey home.
According to CNN, palace staff also included a children's book called Does The Queen Wear Her Crown In Bed? in the package.
“We aim to give every visitor to Buckingham Palace a memorable experience and after we had found Harriet the monkey near the Family Pavilion, she spent some time helping out the Visitor Services team before heading home,” a Royal Collection Trust spokeswoman said.
“We hope Harriet enjoyed telling Rex the corgi about her adventures on the journey back to Australia,” they added.
A teacher at Woodside Preschool, Tash Hortle, was thrilled with Harriet’s happy ending.
“It's beautiful, all the effort the workers went to to get her back to us,” she told CNN.
“The look on her [Savannah's] face when she opened the box was priceless. She was so happy to see her [Harriet] returned,” Tash added.
Yahoo Lifestyle has reached out to Katie Hart for comment.
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