A young girl from Adelaide Hills, Australia has been reunited with her toy monkey after she lost it during a school trip to Buckingham Palace. Five-year-old Savannah Hart took her toy, named Harriet, around the Queen's London home and even posed for several photos with it in the palace. It was only the next day, when she was on the school bus, that Savannah's mum Katie noticed the toy was nowhere to be seen.
Katie Hart told Australian outlet 7NEWS: "The next day we were on a tour bus and I just had the thought and said, 'Where's Harriet?'" Devastated, Savannah and her classmates wrote a letter to the Queen, asking if she had seen the monkey. They filled the envelope with photos of Harriet on her various school trip adventures; the group had previously travelled to Northern Ireland, Scotland and France with Harriet.
Photo: Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2019
The letter, addressed to 'Madam', read: "We are a small preschool located in Woodside, South Australia. We have some toy travelling monkeys that children take with them on holidays and bring back photos for their adventures. This helps our children learn more about the wider world.
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"One of our Monkeys, Harriet, recently visited Buckingham Palace with one of our little girls, Savannah. Unfortunately, Harriet was left behind in the activity room on the 13th August 2019. Savannah's mother did contact palace staff and leave her name and email address in case she was found, but to date we have not heard from Harriet!
"Our Children would dearly like her to Woodside to share her adventures. Could you please look in the activity room to see if she is still there? She was last seen near the dress ups! We appreciate your taking the time to try and find our monkey." The letter was signed: "Yours Sincerely, The Children of Woodside Preschool."
Photo: Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2019
Thankfully, Harriet was found by palace staff, who put her on the next flight home with another furry friend, a toy corgi named Rex. A Royal Collection Trust spokesperson told HELLO!: "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. We hope Harriet enjoyed telling Rex the corgi about her adventures on the journey back to Australia."
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It certainly looks like Harriet had a ball with Rex before going back home. The Visitors Service team shared some heartwarming photos, showing the toys bonding in the palace and Harriet tucking into a strawberry scone. Adorable!
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