Boy's balloon finds pen-pal: the Queen

[JODO 2]

Boy's balloon finds pen-pal: the Queen Wed May 30, 10:06 AM ET

A 4-year-old boy who released a balloon with a message hoping to find a pen pal in a foreign land ended up having a correspondence with the Queen.

Tom Stancombe let go of his helium balloon in Hampshire, but rather than flying across to France or half way around the world, it ended up just 20 miles (32 km) away, landing inside Windsor Castle, the Daily Mail reported.

The Queen instructed her personal assistant to reply and so the monarch and the boy, helped by his parents, exchanged a series of letters, mostly about the fact that one of the boy's ancestors, an artist, had works in the royal art collection.

"She (the Queen) was delighted to find that your balloon had travelled all the way to the gardens at Windsor Castle," the monarch's assistant wrote.

Asked if he thought his son would be exchanging any more letters with the Queen, Tom's father said: "I don't expect we'll get another one, but I think it's incredible they bothered replying at all."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070530/od_uk_...QsGo3FdnoPtiBIF

[GaryC 7]

Yes, the queen is a class act.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

That's pretty cool

[Dwarf_Ogress 0]

God save the Queen! That is fantastic!

[broma25 2]

Nice to see what taxpayer money is spent on......glad the little boy was happy though!!

[almaty 19]

the Queen rocks....i don't care what johnny rotten sang

Edited May 31, 2007 by almaty

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Prince Philip probably shot down the baloon...

[almaty 19]

Prince Philip probably shot down the baloon...

i agree..thought it was one of those bloody pigeons

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Prince Philip probably shot down the baloon...

i agree..thought it was one of those bloody pigeons

Did you read that The Cutty Sark (famous maritime exhibit and London landmark) was gutted by fire recently. Price Phillip commented "it's a bloody shame!".

Bloody shame! Eh... What

Still haven't made up my mind about that guy - he's made some pretty outrageous comments over the years (in his official capacity) - making comments about the Chinese being slitty-eyed (while in China); and asking the Australian Aborigines "if they still chuck spears at each other".

[almaty 19]

Prince Philip probably shot down the baloon...

i agree..thought it was one of those bloody pigeons

Did you read that The Cutty Sark (famous maritime exhibit and London landmark) was gutted by fire recently. Price Phillip commented "it's a bloody shame!".

Bloody shame! Eh... What

Still haven't made up my mind about that guy - he's made some pretty outrageous comments over the years (in his official capacity) - making comments about the Chinese being slitty-eyed (while in China); and asking the Australian Aborigines "if they still chuck spears at each other".

i agree..i assumed he was a drunk and a slacker...

[featherB 1]

Prince Philip probably shot down the baloon...

i agree..thought it was one of those bloody pigeons

Did you read that The Cutty Sark (famous maritime exhibit and London landmark) was gutted by fire recently. Price Phillip commented "it's a bloody shame!".

Bloody shame! Eh... What

Still haven't made up my mind about that guy - he's made some pretty outrageous comments over the years (in his official capacity) - making comments about the Chinese being slitty-eyed (while in China); and asking the Australian Aborigines "if they still chuck spears at each other".

Didn't see that (I did read about the fire, but not about Prince Philip's comments on it), but coming from him, 'it's a bloody shame' is a fantastically well-thought-out and diplomatic response - I'd have expected at least some kind of foot-in-mouth speculation as to how the fire might have started or something...

[KarenCee 3]

Hmmm....that sounds like a good idea for next school term. I'm sure the students would love to do something like this. Personally...regardless of the fact that she's a monarch....I feel what she did was a very kind gesture. How many other royals do you know of that would even bother?