London - When Aussie schoolgirl Savannah Hart lost the class cuddly monkey on a trip to Buckingham Palace she probably thought her fellow pupils would go bananas.
Instead they set about writing to the queen to get her to find Harriet – and to their amazement HM came up with a royal surprise. Not only did she return the monkey – called Harriet – she also threw in a toy corgi.
Harriet is one of six stuffed toys owned by Woodside Preschool in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, which are loaned to the children to take on their summer holidays. The youngsters document their animal’s adventures with photographs to show their classmates on their return.
Harriet duly travelled to Europe with five-year-old Savannah and her family, visiting Paris, Edinburgh, Belfast and, finally, London.
Her last stop before returning home was Buckingham Palace. During the visit Savannah excitedly took the toy out of her father’s rucksack so he could take a picture of them having tea.
Amid the excitement, however, Harriet somehow got left behind. Her mother, Katie Hart, told Australian broadcaster Channel 7 how she contacted the palace in case Harriet was found but the family had to return to Australia without her.
Savannah and her classmates weren’t about to give up hope for Harriet. With the help of school staff, they penned a letter to the queen asking to see if Harriet was still there.
The following week the school was astonished to receive a reply from the palace – showing a picture of staff holding up Harriet in front of a giant portrait of the queen.
Harriet, they wrote, had been found safe and well. The globe-trotting animal was put by the palace team in a box on the next plane home – along with the toy Corgi called Rex "to keep her company".