A young girl enjoyed a very special evening as she was crowned ‘most inspirational child’ and got to meet one of the royal family.

Nikki Christou, nine, of Enfield, has arterio-venous malformation (AVM) which causes an abnormal connection between arteries and veins and can lead to serious bleeding around the face.

The inspirational child collected her award at the 2013 WellChild Awards and shared a word or two with Prince Harry in which he revealed that he had seen his nephew Prince George smile for the first time.

Nikki had told the fourth in line to the throne that she and his nephew shared the same birthday, her father is called George and her brother is called Alexander (Prince George’s middle name).

Prince Harry said to her: “What a small world. I've just literally seen him. Normally when I see him he's either sleeping or crying but I've just seen him smile. It was the first time I've seen him smile.”

Nikki said: “I have had a fantastic night. My favourite parts were seeing a film of the awards at the end of the night, the desserts and of course meeting Prince Harry.”

The event was held at the Dorchester Hotel in Park Lane, and so far, the nine-year-old has raised £70,000 to help research into the incurable condition, one of the many reasons Nikki picked up the most inspirational child award.

In a speech to the hundreds of inspirational children, Prince Harry said: “I'm hugely humbled to be patron of WellChild and I count myself incredibly lucky to be patron, as well as coming down here this evening.

"It's always so clear for everyone to see how brave and inspirational the children are, but very easy to forget what a huge effect it has on the parents, nurses and all the family."