Brave Millie, 8, spends the day with a duchess

A girl who battled a life-threatening condition for the first three years of her life was invited to spend a day with royalty.

Millie Allingham was just one of three children to be invited by Her Royal Highness Kate Middleton to celebrate the grand unveiling of the Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival last Monday. The eight-year-old, from Paddock Wood, was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease at just one-month-old, when she was rushed to the Evelina Children’s Hospital in London.

The Paddock Wood Primary School pupil’s condition was medically managed until she was two and half years old, at which point she was treated through dialysis.

In 2013, two days before her third birthday, Millie received a kidney transplant thanks to her mum Nicky Allingham, who donated one of her own.

The 47-year-old said: “Although she will need another one at some point she is doing really well since the surgery. Typically a transplant lasts up to 15 years but only her body will decide how long it lasts.”

Millie is also paralysed on the right side of her body, a condition known as hemiplegia.

Since her diagnosis the youngster has been a patient of Evelina, where the Duchess of Cambridge is a patron. So when the hospital was asked to select three children to spend the day with her at Hampton Court, Millie was top of the list.

During the event, Kate Middleton joined patients for special outdoor activities in her Back to Nature concept garden including looking for insects, exploring dens and a treasure hunt.

The garden, which features a waterfall, bee-friendly wildflower meadow and a pond, was showcased at the Chelsea Flower Show this year.

Millie said: “The Duchess was really nice and friendly. I asked her what Charlotte and George’s favourite part of the garden is, and she said they really like the waterfall. She also said it’s her favourite part of the garden, and it’s the part I liked the best too.”