Prince Harry honours girl who defied all the odds

A seven-year-old girl whose mother says she has "defied the odds to walk and talk and even survive" has collected an Inspirational Child award from the Duke of Sussex.

Margot Jones-Billington, from Northampton, was one of the winners in the 4-6 age category of the 2026 WellChild Awards, which Prince Harry is a patron of.

She was nominated by her mother, Laura Jones-Billington, and chosen due to her courage, determination and positivity while living with a serious illness.

Laura said when Margot was 20 months old, she went to bed and the next day they discovered she had a ruptured arteriovenous malformation (AVM) which caused a catastrophic bleed on the brain.

"I'm really proud of her; it's so good for her because she needs the recognition," Laura said.

She explained the AVM had left Margot in a coma and she spent six weeks in intensive care.

Margot suffered cardiac and respiratory arrests, and as a result of the bleed on her brain she had a stroke.

Laura added the AVM was a cluster of blood vessels "that just don't form properly and anybody could have an AVM".

She said it then took Margot "hours and hours" of physio and occupational therapy to learn how to talk and walk again.

"She had to start from scratch again... I look at her now and I can't believe that she's walking around - she's communicating," she added.

Laura said Prince Harry was "lovely, just amazing, he was so calm, so kind".

"He spoke to Margot like he knew everything about her," she added.

During their talk, Margot asked Harry what his favourite colour was and he said blue, while he then complimented the award winner on her sparkly trainers.

He also revealed his daughter Princess Lilibet's two favourite things were the colour pink and sparkles.

Margot, who had just turned seven, presented the prince with a handmade card for his recent 42nd birthday.

Her younger sister, Adelaide, four, was also called up on to the stage at London's Royal Lancaster Hotel on Monday, and she "gave him the biggest cuddle I've ever seen" and then she declared he was her "best friend", Laura said.

In a speech, Prince Harry said the awards celebrated "an extraordinary group of children and young people living with complex medical needs, as well as the families who support them every single day".

It was attended by Olympic gold medalist Dame Kelly Holmes, Gok Wan, McFly drummer Harry Judd and Peter Andre.

Its chief executive, Matt James, said: "It's more important than ever that we are loud and clear about this growing population of young people who, all too often, feel unrecognised in our society."

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