Tom Stancombe attached a message to a balloon and set it loose in Hampshire, west of London, hoping to find a penpal in another country. The four-year-old released the balloon at a school festival with the goal of reaching France or even points beyond. The balloon, however, travelled less than twenty miles, returning to earth at Windsor Castle.

Queen Elizabeth II got wind of the balloon's arrival and asked her personal assistant, Angela Kelly, to respond. Miss Kelly wrote the boy, saying "She [the Queen] was delighted to find that your balloon had travelled all the way to the gardens at Windsor Castle." Naturally, young Tom was extremely proud of having gotten the letter. He wrote back wrote back, noting that his great, great grandfather, Petrus Johannes Arundzen, had been commissioned to copy Dutch masters on display at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace.

Miss Kelly, wrote to tell Tom that she would get in touch with the Royal Collection to find out what had happened to the artwork. Two weeks later, Tom got another letter: "I am absolutely delighted to be able to tell you that the Royal Collection do indeed have three etchings by Petrus Johannes Arundzen. They form part of the print collection in the Print Library and are printed on vellum rather than paper, which means they are very special deluxe prints."

She also had a favour to ask of Tom: "Would you be able to ask your Mummy and Daddy for me if they know anything more about your great, great grandfather. Royal Collection would love to know more about him." Tom -- and his parents -- wrote back to help fill in the missing information.

This is a pretty cool story. What kid doesn't dream of somehow making contact with a famous person? I'm sure that, in the UK, you can't get much more famous than the Queen herself.